


A Freak Among Freaks

by CaseyJ0nes



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, also their's some sensitive material in later chapters, and also cursing if that's not your forte, human!AU, kinda of sorta, someone gets turned human by accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-03-30 03:09:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 38,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3920713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaseyJ0nes/pseuds/CaseyJ0nes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking a slight twist in the middle of The Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman, Donatello falls into the mutagen with April, undergoing a second mutation that turns him human, or at least human enough to venture through the city in broad daylight. </p><p>Rated T for language and some sensitive material in later chapters.</p><p>Edit September 2016: Currently being re-written and sequel will follow once it is re-posted. Sorry it's been like a year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The One With the Fall

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've been posting this story on fanfiction and on tumblr for a few weeks, and I finally decided to bring it to this outlet as well. It should be fairly quick updates since it's already on chapter 14 everywhere's else, and the rest of it is already wrote.
> 
> Also the chapters start out kind of short, but they get longer as it goes on, so bear with me.
> 
> I hope you enjoy~

Leo, Donnie and Casey roped down into the warehouse, seeing April tied up over a vat of mutagen.

They heard a slight buzzing as they assessed the scene, looking for the best approach before they heard a  _slap._

They both jumped at the noise, then turned to glare at Casey, who had killed a fly that was buzzing around.

"Turtles!" Baxter shouted, now aware of their presence, "You tried, yes. Tried to sneak in. No retro-mutagen, no trade!" Baxter buzzed out, flying closer as he did.

"I got your retro-mutaJUNK right here!" Casey shouted, flipping his hockey stick around and playing it like an electric guitar.

Baxter turned around, spitting acid on the rope that held April up before flying to attack.

Casey shot out before the brothers, hockey stick in hand, and the turtles quickly followed suit, rushing forwards after Baxter and April.

Casey got one hit in on Baxter before he was thrown back, and Leo jumped forwards just to be thrown away the same.

Donnie rushed towards April, throwing a grappling hook up to get to her, while Casey had managed to get onto Baxter's back, riding him around the warehouse. He had got a few hits on his head, before being thrown towards Donnie, knocking them both into the boxes.

Leo jumped back into the fray when Baxter began to spit acid, jumping back just in time.

"Baxter, stop!" He tried. "Let us help you! We don't want to hurt you!"

His attempt at reasoning with the fly-mutant was punctuated with Casey throwing a fire extinguisher towards him, snapping his fingers when it missed.

"Well,  _Casey_  does."

They were brought back by April, "Uh, guys! A little help here!?"

Donnie sprang into action, grabbing the rope he had thrown earlier and swinging himself up to the top.

"Not fast enough!" Baxter yelled as the rope snapped and April began to fall.

Donnie jumped from where he was, holding his arms out to grab her. When he felt her curled up safely in his arms he gave a silent cheer, tightening his hold as his momentum carried them towards the other side.

"No!" Baxter shouted, grabbing a box and throwing it towards them with all his might.

Unable to move himself out of the way, both he and April were hit full force and thrown back, sinking into the glowing, green liquid.

"DONNIE!" Leo shouted, stopping dead.

"APRIL!" Casey did the same.

Everything was stopped as they watched the two forms sink to the bottom, even Baxter, unsure of what would happen to the two teens.

"You BASTARD!" Casey screamed, taking his chance and throwing his hockey stick up at the mutated fly. He hit him dead center and threw him through the warehouse window with a crash.

Leo climbed up the canister, ignoring everything else. He knelt down next to the green goo, tears in his eyes.

"DONNIE!" He screamed at it, looking as if he wanted to reach in, but stopping himself last second. "DAMN IT!" He screamed, standing back up and turning away, gripping at his head.

"How could I let this happen?!" He screamed at no one in particular.

"Are they…" Casey asked when he joined him on the side, and they would soon find their answer as one form latched onto the side of the canister.

Leo turned back around at the sound and reached for his sword, unsure of what had become of either his brother or friend.

The figure coughed after a moment, the bubble around them bursting for the boys to find a perfectly normal April.

She coughed up more mutagen, rubbing some from her eyes as well. "Nice catch, Donnie." She shouted; annoyance clear in her voice. She shook some more off before dragging herself up onto the side.

She looked around after a moment, expecting some explanation about why she was okay from the purple clad turtle, but he wasn't there.

"Where's Donnie?" She asked, suddenly no longer angry or annoyed, and Casey looked towards the oldest brother, still looking desperately at the vat of mutagen.

"He fell in too?" She asked, her eyes widening.

They waited a couple more seconds before April couldn't stand it anymore. She reached back into Mutagen, throwing any bit of caution away, everything leading up to that point had proved her to be immune.

She latched onto a figure, pulling it up with all her strength, but not able to get him past the side of the canister.

"Donnie?" Leo choked out, his hand shaking on the hilt of his sword, not wanting to have to attack his younger brother. April couldn't help but wince at how terrified he sounded; an emotion she didn't normally get from him.

Another cough was heard, this one weaker but loud enough to pull April from her thoughts.

She moved closer and attempted to clean some of the mess, giving a small gasp as her hand moved the mutagen away, only to find something that looked and felt like brown hair.

Quickly rubbing the green liquid from the rest of his face, she found a normal human boy behind it. She looked up to Leo, desperately looking for any answers, but he just looked confused, wiping the few tears off his eyes quickly.

After a moment he seemed to shake himself out of it, and looked towards Casey.

"Casey, go find a blanket or something!" He shouted, knowing that mutagen didn't just make clothing, though as April cleaned a bit more mutagen away he noticed his shoulder strap still hanging to him and his mask hung around his neck.

Casey jumped down, returning a moment later and draped the tarp he had found over Donnie's shoulders after they removed his weapon from its holster. Leo scooped him up after, thankful that he was much smaller and lighter without the shell attached to his back.

"Come on, let's go!" Leo shouted, running out the doors and towards the Shellraiser, just as Baxter reappeared from the window.

"No, you won't get away that easy!" He shouted throwing a led pipe at the canister, cracking it upon impact.

He quickly flew after them as the doors were shut, ignoring the ever growing cracks on the mutagen holder, even when it began leaking out.

Leo set Donnie in Raphael's seat, making sure he was secure before taking his own in the front, starting the car and shooting off down the street.

"Donnie," April pleaded, grabbing a cloth from one of the compartments and cleaning off some more of the mutagen. "Come on, wake up." She told him, shaking his shoulders.

She heard a phone go off, and listened as Leo answered it while he was driving.

"Oh, you found him?" She heard him say, and turned around. "We'll be there as soon as we can, but we have a bit of a problem over here..."

There was silence for a moment before Leo winced. "Uh, I'll show you when we get there.."

"Leo! He's gaining on us!" April shouted, looking at one of Donnie's monitors.

"Casey! Grab Donnie's seat and start shooting!" Leo ordered, and Casey did as instructed.

"Oh! Go right, go right, go right!" April shouted above everything else.

Without asking questions Leo went into the turn.

"How do you know?!" Casey asked, firing the garbage canon at Baxter again.

"I just do! Go left now, then straight!" She made sure Donnie stayed upright as Leo did another violent turn.

"Baxter's gaining on us!" She yelled, looking back to the monitor.

"Got it covered!" Casey yelled, firing another ball of garbage. He attempted to ignore when the fly-man began eating it, and instead fired another, hitting him dead on and out of the sky.

"He's down!" Casey cheered, and they drove for another minute before finally pulling over.

"Should we just leave him here?" Leo asked, hovering over Donnie. "I mean, shouldn't he have woken up by now?" He sounded horrible.

"I think he'll be safe, any bad guys who come by won't think we're in it parked, right?" Casey shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess, come on, let's go." Leo said, pulling the canister out of his shell. Thank whoever, Donnie had decided to leave it with him, or else it would probably be on the bottom of the vat of mutagen.

They shut and locked the door before making their way to the roof, April getting up surprisingly quicker; mostly due to the fact that Leo would look back every 5 seconds to make sure no one was near the vehicle.


	2. Chapter 2

When Leo finally got to the top he found Kirby nuzzled next to his daughter, and made his way to them.

"Alright, Donnie said that we just have to splash some of this on your skin and you'll be right as rain, Mr. O'Neil." Leo told him, walking towards him slowly.

"Where is Donnie, Buzz Buzz?" Mikey asked, still in his ridiculous costume.

Leo paused and his brothers noticed both April and Casey froze as well.

"Uh, we'll show you in a minute…" He said, and Raph narrowed his eyes as they exchanged looks. Leo, much quicker now, walked to Kirby.

"Alright, bring the tarp, April you should probably move." He said, aiming it towards Kirby.

He was just about to pull the trigger when it something grabbed it from his hands.

"Hah, I'll be human again!" Baxter yelled, flying towards the sky.

"No!" April yelled as the flyman went to spray it on himself. Though, it was only seconds before Mikey's kusarigama chain pulled him from the sky.

He came crashing down and with him came the vile, breaking upon impact with the ground.

"No!" Everyone shouted.

Thinking quickly, Leo grabbed Kirby and threw him to the spot. The bat mutant got the idea and attempted to soak it up and rub it on his skin.

They waiting for a moment before his skin began to change.

Thinking quick, Raph threw the tarp on him, and they watched as it bumped and moved. April winced at the cries and growls that were coming from it.

A mutating hand shot through the top before reaching back through, and a few seconds later, a human head popped up.

"Dad!" April yelled, running towards him and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "I missed you so much!"

"A-April?" He asked, sounding confused. "What- What happened?" He looked around the roof, "Where am I? And where are my clothes?"

"Dude, when you hear what happened you are going to  _laugh_." Mikey said with a large smile on his face.

"No!" Baxter yelled, breaking free of the chains that held him to the ground and flew into the air. "That should have been me!" He went down for the kill towards April and her father, but Casey ran forwards quicker.

He hit him with his hockey stick with all his strength, throwing him off the side of the roof. Raph jumped off after him, going to finish the job.

With a sigh of relief, Leo helped Mr. O'Neil up, walking him to the stairs.

"We'll just get you guys home and then this'll all be over." He said. No one was sure if he was talking to himself or the group, but Mikey decided to reply anyways.

"Yeah, except we still have to change all the other accidental mutants back into humans, and find all the mutagen we spilt. Not to mention those squirrel things are still loose.. Oh yeah and Shredder's still out there making trouble-" Leo effectively shut him up with one glare. "But it's over for tonight."

They got back down to the street only to see Raph run back out of the Shellraiser.

"Guys!" He shouted. "There's some random kid passed out in there!"

Leo visibly winced, his eyes widening as he remembered the night's other problem. " _Donnie!_ " He left Mr. O'Neil in Casey and April's hands as he ran to the vehicle.

"Ok, Donnie, wake up now." He tapped his brother's cheek in hopes that it would jar him, but the turtle-turned-human remained quiet. " _Donnie wake up!"_  He all but screamed.

"Donnie?!" Raph shouted as he walked back in after his brother, hitting Leo's chest and pushing him away from their brother. "You mean Donnie, as in Donatello, our  _brother_?"

"Yeah, he kind of fell into a vat of mutagen when we were getting April.. I don't know why he's human.." Leo said, worry clear on his face, before leaving his brother and going back to the front of the vehicle. "We gotta get him home."

Raph nodded before he opened the door and stuck his head out. "Get in or stay out, we've got places to go!"

The lot of them piled in, Mikey and Raph getting the story from Casey after they moved Donnie into his own seat. Meanwhile, April sat done next to him, her father on the other side, making sure he was okay.

They dropped Casey off at his apartment, watching as a young girl greeted him at the door, before stopping in front of April's.

"Call me if anything happens." She told them as her father stepped out of the car. She hadn't wanted to leave Donnie, knowing that usually people woke up at the most a minute after mutations. If they even passed out at all. She, of course, knew her father needed her too, and that his brothers would call if anything happened.

"Of course, April. You'll be the first person to know. Go help your father." Leo told her.

She turned back to Donnie, walking to him nervously and pushing some of his hair back from his face. "You did it, Donnie, he's human again." She told him, smiling sadly. "Please wake up soon."

Leo smiled sadly at the exchange before she stepped out of the vehicle and they stayed until she waved from the window of her apartment.

When they arrived at the manhole that lead home Leo lowered Donnie down, then carried him through the sewers. He made sure to keep him wrapped up tight.

As soon as they walked through the turnstiles, Mikey had immediately run for Splinter, calling his name loudly.

Once Leo set Donnie in his bed, clean and in one of Splinters long robes, did he finally explain what had happened to their brother.

"What are we gonna do, Sensei?" Leo asked, looking towards Donnie.

"For now, all we can do is wait; let him rest, then wake on his own. I am sure going through this mutation has put a lot of stress on your brother's body." Splinter said, running a hand through his son's newly grown hair, worry on his face. "I suggest you all join him in resting as well; who knows what time Donatello will be waking us with the discovery of his new form."

He made his way towards his own bedroom, and the three turtles followed his lead, returning to their own rooms and attempting to get some rest.

\--

When Donnie woke up hours later he let out a low groan, feeling as if he had been hit by a bus, and for all he could remember, he had been.

It took him all of five seconds to realize that nothing felt right to him.

Sitting up he assured himself that he was in his house, his room, even. But then his eyes had caught site of a few strands of brown hair falling over his forehead and in front of his eyes.

He hesitantly reached up to touch it, but the arm following his command was not his own. Instead, it was a normal human arm dressed in the sleeve of one of Splinter's robes and with a normal, five-fingered hand attached to it.

His eyes widened, and he dashed out of bed, falling in front of his mirror after tripping over his too-long robe and the bed sheets that tangled at his feet. He hit the floor with a whimper, pain shooting throughout his body.

He grasped the frame of the mirror once he lifted his face from the floor, kneeling in front of it. As he sat there he searched every inch of his horrified face. He was thin, with pale-skin, human eyes, long, wavy brown hair. He was- He was human!

His breath was coming out quick and panicked, and he was doing all he could to not begin hyperventilating.

He had to make sure it wasn't just some trick courtesy of his brothers, though he wouldn't know how. He quickly checked the back of the mirror, and then moved around a few times, making sure the reflection followed his every move.

How? How could this have happened? He couldn't have just gone to bed a turtle and woken up a human!

Unable to comprehend what was happening, he did the only thing his brain could come up with: He let out a loud, horrified scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, Don-Don's awake~ And now he knows that he's human. And is horrified. Like you would be.


	3. The One Where Donnie is Mostly Confused

Leo shot awake from the sound of the scream, thoughts immediately jumping to an intruder in his house as he put his mask on. It took his brain a moment to catch up and remember the events from the night before.

He ran into the hall, rushing passed Mikey. The younger turtle had his head poked out of his room and was rubbing his sleep-filled eyes. Leo thought little of it, though, instead running straight to Donnie's room.

He saw his little brother staring horrified at his own face, one hand grasping the mirror so hard that his knuckles were white. The other was running a finger down the bridge of his nose, his eyes wide and scared.

"Donnie…? He asked, his voice just above a whisper, and Donnie jumped like Leo had screamed. Obviously he hadn't noticed his brother enter.

"Leo?" He asked, sounding scared and confused and much unlike his brother. His voice was croaking and strained, like he had yelled much more than once. "What- What happened to me?" He looked back into the mirror, gingerly touching his face. "Wh-Why do I look like a- a human?"

By that point both Raph and Mikey were sticking their heads in through the door, concerned looks on their faces.

"You, uh, you fell into the vat of mutagen.." Leo told him.

"Mutagen?" He asked, his expression changing to make him look (all things considered) more like himself. "If I fell into mutagen, I- I shouldn't be human…"

Leo took this time to help his brother up; ignoring the wince Donnie gave at his touch. He untangled him from his bed sheets, and walked him into the living room. Donnie grabbed his staff to use as a crutch on his way out, the other brothers following behind.

Despite the staff, Donnie leaned heavily on his brother for support, his face contorted in pain. "I should be a new kind of mutant, probably a turtle-fly thing." He looked weak and was walking strangely, not quite getting the footing right with his new feet. Each clumsy step came with a wince, though Donnie seemed to be trying to hide it.

Mikey looked like he was going to say something, but Raphael hit him over the head. "One buzz out of you and I swear."

"Well, you did fall in with April.." Leo told him.

"April?! Is she okay?! Did she mutate!?" He asked, his voice cracking at the sudden strain.

"She's fine, she came out just as human as you. We don't know why, but she did."

Donnie thought it over for a moment, and then it seemed to come to him. "She's immune to mutagen... That's why her DNA was able to make a retro-mutagen! That's amazing!" He exclaimed, but then looked confused again. "But if I fell in with her, I wouldn't be human; I would be a turtle…"

Donnie turned around, walking towards the lab. He nearly tripped over either his own feet, his much too-long clothing, or both but catching himself with his staff. "I need to see what happened…"

"You should probably go get some more rest, Donnie." Leo suggested, but Donnie shook his head, opening the lab door.

"I don't need to sleep; I've slept all night. What I  _need_  is to figure out why I'm human."

"I'm gonna call April and tell her your fine then! Well, fine-ish…" Leo called after him, saying the last part more to himself while pulling out his phone.

"If she says she's coming over tell her to bring Casey!" Donnie still croaking voice called back.

Leo and Raph exchanged looks, "Uh, okay."

\--

April jumped down into the sewer, Casey following behind her.

"Are you sure he said bring Casey? That doesn't seem like a very Donnie thing to say." He asked as they walked down the sewers.

"Yeah, that's what Leo said." April shrugged, walking quicker through the turnstiles and making a bee line for the lab. "Come on, it's probably important."

The moment they walked through the door Donnie looked up and smiled. "Casey, perfect!" He said, getting up from his chair. His voiced still had a bit of a croak to it, but had obviously improved since him waking up. "Are you afraid of needles?" He asked.

"Uh, no?" Casey told him.

"Then would you mind giving me some of your blood? I need a human's blood to compare mine too."

"Why not April?" He asked, but sat down and rolled his sleeve up anyways.

"I already have some of hers, from when we were making the retro-mutagen. But even then, she's not- uh, she's not…" He stopped himself from going on.

"I'm a mutant, Casey." She told him awkwardly. She had had time to come to terms with it, Casey might as well know. "I'm part Kraang."

With that being enough confirmation for Donnie to go on, he continued while he readied the needle. "That's most likely why she didn't react to the mutagen. I suspect that it's something in the Kraang DNA that keeps it from reacting with them. This probably is what makes it so that they have no troubles being around, or even coming into contact with it."

He pushed the large sleeves up his arm in annoyance, but then gave a small smile. "This is so much easier with five small fingers than with three huge ones. I mean, I don't have the pinky, or ring finger down yet, but I'm getting it." He said aloud, not really to anyone in particular. He then cleaned Casey's arm before sticking the needle in and drawing the blood.

While he took the blood from Casey, April took the time to really look at him.

He was about the same height as Casey, a couple inches shorter than he had been, but still taller than each of his brothers. Of course, he was also just all around smaller. From his waist to his legs, to his arms, which would be expected, though it had gone to the point where he looked slightly malnourished. The robe he wore of Splinter's piled around his feet, with the tie wrapped around his waist keeping it shut. It still hung loosely off his small frame and needed to have the sleeves rolled up around his elbows. His skin was about the same as hers, maybe a few shades darker, and his hair was wavy and brown, hanging down to chin length. Some pieces fell down over his forehead and into his, currently, red eyes.

When he smiled she noticed that he still had the gap between his teeth. She could never tell if it was just a gap or if he had lost a tooth at some point.

He put the blood sample into a slide, and then put it under a microscope, but before he examined it, his head shot up.

"April, how's your father?" He asked, like he had just remembered the goal of their mission last night. Actually, he probably had just remembered, and April didn't blame him with everything that had happened.

"Oh, Donnie, you did it!" She said excitedly, rushing forwards to envelope him in a hug, which he quickly returned. She pulled back slightly to look up at his, her smile even wider. "He's at my aunt's right now, 100% human. She's been giving him the third degree over where he's been  _all_  morning. I was glad to escape." Donnie smiled back down at her as they parted.

"That's great, it worked!" He said, and no one missed the small glance towards the frozen canister in the corner of his room that had once been Timothy.

Donnie shook his head. "Another time." He mumbled to himself, before returning his attention back to the slide, changing it between four other samples.

"Why do you have so many slides? Wouldn't your brother's have the same?" Casey asked, looking at the samples.

"We're all a little different, most likely just from how much mutagen got on us as turtles. I thought I would use all of us just too really see the difference." He then added as an afterthought; "Well, most of us."

"Where's Leo's?" She said after reading the names, and heard Raph snort from behind her.

"Mr. Leader's afraid of needles." He laughed.

"Hey, it's not exactly an uncommon fear! I don't like things pricking into my skin!" Leo replied.

"It's not rational! Donnie's not going to prick you to death." Raph replied.

"It's more rational then cockroaches!"

"How can you still say that after what happened last year?!" Raph shouted at him, clenching his fists. Donnie huffed and stepped in before the fight started.

"No fighting in my lab!" He told them, going to move to push them out, only to trip over the robe again. He landed on his hands and knees, then found himself face down on the floor as his sleeves slipped on the ground. A pained sound came out of him, half way between a groan and a whimper. He lifted himself up onto his hands and knees, wavering ever-so-slightly and letting out a breath. "Can someone please go find me some clothes that fit me properly? This is driving me crazy!" He yelled as Mikey helped him up and handed him his staff. He moved the robe from around his feet and walked back to the table.

"I can go buy you some clothes if you want, Donnie." April told him.

"That would be most kind of you, April." Master Splinter said, coming into the lab at the sound of yelling, a small amount of money in his outstretched hand. "I was going to suggest it, anyhow. So, this should be enough to pick out a few items of clothing from discount shops."

"Whoa, Sensei, where'd you get all the dough?" Mikey asked, staring at the money.

"I was not a poor man before I mutated." Splinter said before he gave an odd look to Donnie that only Leo seemed to catch, before exiting the room again.

"Do you want anything specific?" April asked, pocketing the money, heading to leave and ignoring Raph slapping Mikey, asking him;

"Who did you think paid for all your pizza?"

"Just pick out anything you think would look good." He told her, folding the sleeves back up.

"Alright, we'll be back then." She said, gesturing for Casey to follow her.

"Why do I have to go?" Casey asked, looking up from the cotton ball he was holding to his arm.

"Because Donnie can't come looking like that, and you look about his size." She told him and then grabbed his wrist, pulling him out.

"Eat something, too, Casey!" Donnie yelled on their way out.

He looked back at his brother's, who were still bickering, narrowing his eyes. "Goodbye." He told them, pointing to the door. When they gave him confused and irritated looks he continued. "I'm not going to have you guys in here fighting while I'm trying to figure out what happened to me."

"Fine." Leo sighed. "Call if you need anything."

"Will do."

He waited for the door to shut before turning back to his work, rubbing his arms where he had hit the floor. He then almost immediately groaned as his new hair fell into his eyes once again.

He looked towards his desk and his eyes landed on a pair of scissors. He picked them up, running his hand over them, then went over to another part of the lab.

"I know I have a few pieces of mirror here some where's…" He mumbled to himself.

Once he found them, he set them up so that he could see both the front and back of his head, and set out to work on ridding himself of the nuisance long hair was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave any comments, seriously, makes me smile <3
> 
> Okay, byyye~


	4. The One With the Bang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New chapter, not much to say. Enjoy, and please leave a comment if you like~!

"We're back." Casey announced while he gave April the bags. He walked towards the couch and hopped down between Raph and Mikey.

April walked past the living room to the lab, knocking once before opening the door and going in. "Donnie, I'm back with the clothes." She smiled at him, setting the bags down, and ruffling back through them. "I got you some sweatpants and a few t-shirts, too, for something to sleep in. Oh, and if the jeans don't fit you can just wear those until you get some."

She looked up and raised an eyebrow once she caught sight of him, sat in front of a mirror with some scissors and shaking loose hairs away.

His hair was substantially shorter, most of it cut close to his head though it got longer near the top. He had brushed the pieces that used to fall in front of his eyes off to the side, curling away neatly.

"Thanks, April." He smiled brightly, lifting the robe off the ground as he went to grab the bags. "It'll be great to be in something I don't have to hold up whenever I walk."

"I would think so," She agreed. "I like your hair."

"It doesn't look bad, does it? I think I cut it too short near my neck, but this style looked fine on that guy." He asked, looking back into the mirror and checking it again while gesturing to the picture on his laptop.

"No, it looks nice. If the whole ninja thing doesn't work out I'd say you have a career as a hair stylist." She joked.

Donnie laughed, pushing his bangs to the side. "Thanks," He told her. "Now I better get into some actual clothes.."

"Oh, uh, right." She nodded, turning back to the door. She walked out and joined the rest of the teens on the couch, watching a wrestling match Raph had on.

Half way through a new match they all turned around at the sound of the lab door opening, Donnie walking out in his new clothing. A pair of black jeans, canvas sneakers, and a purple button-up. He had rolled the sleeves up to his elbows, showing his usual wrappings around his hands and arms. He also had what looked like a new mask tied around his eyes.

The new clothing also made April realize that he was thinner than she thought. Even the tight-fitting jeans she had gotten looked a bit baggy on him.

"Hey, you cut your hair!" Mikey pointed out, jumping April out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, long hair is kind of annoying. I don't see how humans can deal with it." He laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"The clothes look great." She told him, smiling.

"Oh, yeah, everything fits great, thanks." He smiled, more shyly this time, his hand moving to the back of his neck. His cheeks tinged a pink that was much more visible on his new skin tone.

He cleared his throat, moving his hand around to tug at his shirt collar, "Um, anyways, I think I figured out what happened." He told them. "Because there was so much of April's unique DNA in the mutagen we fell into it was able to change the way the mutagen reacted to my own. When I combined the two I only had so much, not to mention the mutagen was diluted, so it was really just cancelling out the mutagen part." Donnie explained.

"But when we fell in, there was more to work with, so instead of just cancelling out the mutagen and turning me back into a normal turtle, it copied the human DNA as well, turning me into a human. And since I'm, or was, I suppose, a turtle-human hybrid, more or less, it really didn't have that far to go. If we had a turtle with the same genetic properties as April, or probably any non-mammalian animal, and it had fallen into the mutagen with me, then it would have focused in on the matching parts of my own DNA and reverted me back into a turtle."

"So you're human now because of there being too much of April mixed in?" Mikey asked.

"Not entirely, Mikey. Looking at my DNA next to April's, Casey's, Raph's and yours, I'm still kind of in-between them all, though I'm now much closer to human. I look completely human, but I still have the superior strength and hearing that I had, and probably a lot more of our more animalistic tendencies," He explained. "Plus my back seems to have retained some of it's shell-like resilience, like it just sank into my skin rather than disappearing."

"So, you're like a super human?" Casey asked.

"Well, just my back. I've unfortunately lost my thicker skin and got regular human skin every where's else, if the bruises I now have on my forearms are any evidence." Donnie explained, rubbing this arm. "But that doesn't matter, because even though I'm not completely human, I look like a human; so I can go up to the surface whenever I want!" He looked up at the ceiling, like he was imagining what it would be like.

"So, you're going to stay as a human?" Mikey asked, looking confused.

Donnie looked back down at him for a moment, also confused. "I don't really have a choice, Mikey…" He told him. "I mean, I could dowse myself in mutagen with a turtle nearby, but I have no idea what would happen. Most likely I would end up as some rampaging mutant, and if I used the retro-mutagen I would just become a turtle again." He shrugged.

"Oh, yeah, I guess." Mikey said, his eyes turning downcast.

"Mutagen is so unpredictable; it would be hard to know what would happen in any scenario. I mean, whether I try to turn myself back to a turtle with mutagen, or even try and recreate the mixture that turned me human there's no guarantee that it would work the same way. If I had more info on it, it would help, but the Kraang are so secretive about how it works. I've never seen much on any of the databases I've looked into. I can try to research it more, but for now I'm stuck like this."

"They probably keep that sort of thing in their dimension. They already know how it works, why would they need that information here." Leo added.

"Maybe we should find a way to their dimension, then. I mean, if they keep getting here, there's gotta be a way there." Raph shrugged.

"We can't just jump into some unknown dimension, Raph! Who knows what it would be like!" Leo said back and soon enough an argument had broken out between them. The other four teens sat aside, rolling their eyes at the familiar sight.

"So, um, April..." Donnie started, rolling back on his heels and pulling at the collar of his shirt. "Now that I have clothes and a decent hair cut... do you think that maybe you'd want to go up to the surface with me?" He asked, having a hard time trying to contain his excitement. "Just for a little bit, while it's still day out."

April looked surprised for a moment, and then smiled. "Yeah, sure. We can go get dinner." She suggested.

"Alright." He smiled and started for the door, removing his mask and retying it around his wrist.

"Bring back a pizza! Mushroom and pepperoni!" Mikey called to them as they walked through the turnstiles.


	5. The One Where the Villain Shows Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quite honestly, I'm not very happy with this chapter. But I've re-read it, re-wrote it, edited it, there was literally no way I liked it, and I like this one best, so this is the one I'm publishing. It's not exactly bad, it's just, I don't know, it feels awkward..

"So, is it weird?" April asked, sitting over their dishes at Murakami's. It was about 5:30, and people were beginning to show up for dinner. "Being human, I mean." She added, like it wasnèt already obvious.

"Well, yeah." Donnie said after he finished chewing. "It terrified me out his morning. I tried to move my arm and this is the one that came into view." He said, gesturing with his arm. "But, I mean, it's kind of cool too. Like, I am actually sitting in public, eating dinner in the middle of rush hour. I never thought that would ever happen, like, ever." He told her, smiling excitedly.

"Yeah, I guess that would be pretty cool." She smiled with him before taking her last bite. "Is it hard using five fingers instead of three?"

"Kind of." He shrugged. "It's taking me a bit to get used to them. I'm still not that great with the new fingers, if the way I'm holding these chopsticks is any indication." He held his hand up to show his three fingered hold on his utensils. "Clothes are a nuisance though, how do you live in these?" He asked, pulling at the collar of his shirt. "And shoes are probably one of the worst things I've ever had on my feet."

"Well, y'know, if we don't wear clothes we kind of get locked up." She shrugged, giving a small laugh.

"Yeah, I guess." He said, and then started poking at his food. "So.. April.." He started, pausing first like he was thinking of how to say something. "What's uh, what's school like? Is it as bad as they make it seem on shows and movies and stuff? 'Cause it always looked kind of interesting.."

April raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to go to school, Donnie?" She asked.

"Well, um, kind of? I mean, I never could before and it'd be kind of cool to see what it was like, even for just a few days.. And um, well, yeah. Since I was little. School always seemed really fun to me, a whole place just for learning. University seemed even better."

"Do you think Splinter would let you?" She asked.

"No." Donnie frowned, looking down at his food. "He wouldn't want me on any government records, which is probably for the best, since I don't actually exist." He shrugged, sticking another piece of food in his mouth.

"You wouldn't have to be on record." April told him, and he raised an eyebrow as if to ask 'how' without speaking with his mouth full.

"You could come with me and say you're a friend visiting from out of town, or something along those lines. They'd let you tag along with me until you 'go home.'" She explained.

"Wow, really?" He asked, "That would be so cool! Then I could see what school is like without actually signing up for school."

"You would just have to get Splinter's approval. And my dad's, but after what you've done for him, I don't see why he wouldn't say yes." She smiled. "Do you think there's a chance?"

"Well, I still kind of doubt it. Even though as long as I get up earlier for training, and do my chores and stuff, I don't see why it would be a problem. It's not like anyone would know it was me if Shredder or Karai happened to show up."

"No harm in asking." April smiled.

"You say that now, but he doesn't carry around that stick for walking." He said and smiled brightly when she let out a laugh, before shoving his last gyoza in his mouth.

"Come on, the pizza should be ready for pick up soon." She told him, getting up from her chair and leaving some money.

"This isn't our order." April said, setting the pizza back onto the counter. "We wanted mushrooms and pepperoni, extra cheese." She told the cashier.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. We'll get right on that." The girl said, going into the kitchen."

"Well, we've got some time to kill, I guess." She told Donnie, who was staring out the window at the busy streets.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I guess." He said. "What do you want to do?"

"We could go to the park across the street for a bit. It's a nice enough evening."

"Alright." He smiled, holding the door open for her.

They crossed the street and walked through the small park.

"You know, I'm kind of surprised I got you out of the house without a weapon of some kind." April mentioned, trying to form a conversation.

Donnie gave a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his head. "I wouldn't be too surprised..." He told her.

"You have a weapon?" She asked incredulously as she looked him over. "Where are you keeping it?"

He gave another small smile before pulling up his pant leg, a piece of medal strapped to his leg.

He took it out and swung it back and forth, letting it snap to a full sized bo-staff. "I don't like using this one much, obviously, since making it retractable meant I had to make it hallow. That makes it a lot weaker than my wooden one, but it works well enough." He shrugged, before folding it back up and strapping it back in its place.

"I don't really feel safe above ground..." He gave as an excuse, before they fell back into silence, sitting at a bench and watching people pass.

April looked over at Donnie, trying to think up a new topic, thinking back to their earlier conversation. "So, did Master Splinter teach you academics too?"

"Yeah.. Well, he tried. He taught us math, and some history and literature, and stuff. The other three were learning from him well, but I was learning faster than he could teach." He shrugged. "I ended up just finding books that washed into the sewers or the dumps, and just read until I understood them. Then I applied it to other things and suddenly I was telling Sensei about biology and chemistry. He eventually stopped trying to teach me anything intellectual."

"So, you're a genius?"

"I guess so, if you want to label it. I just like learning, and I'm good at it." He shrugged, taking out his phone to see what time it was. "Mikey's gonna be so angry that we're late."

"Yeah, but I'm gonna see if I can convince them to give me that spare pizza for free, so he shouldn't be too angry." She smirked.

"Good thinking." He smiled, putting his phone back.

He stood up stretching, and April noticed the wince he gave.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." He said, rubbing his shoulders. "Just stiff.. I was probably lying wrong last night, or it had something to do with the mutation, or something. It's nothing, I'm sure."

She looked uncertain, but nodded. "Alright, but if anything's wrong, you should tell someone."

He nodded, then turned to make his way back to the pizza place. "Our order should be ready soon." He told her, and they made their way back.

April and Donnie walked back towards the alleyway that lead to their hideout, two large pizza's in hand.

"I really hope Splinter says yes." Donnie smiled. "It'd be great to go to school with you-" He paused for a moment, blushing. "Er- I mean just going to school in general, but also having you there, or just in general, or whatever.."

April smiled, rolling her eyes a bit. "It'd be great going to school with you, too, Donnie." She told him, and he blushed and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck again.

They turned into the alleyway and both stopped in surprise.

"Guys, you have been taking forever to get back!" Mikey yelled, holding his hand out for the pizzas, though Donnie kept them away.

"The order got messed up, so we went to the park for a bit. We got a free pizza out of it though." Donnie told his younger brother, rolling his eyes and keeping it away for him, lest he eat it on his own.

"Well just come on, it's probably cold or something."

Mikey told him, turning back to the entrance.

Karai watched with interest as they walked further into the alley and out of her line of site.

"Like that's ever stopped you from eating it before." She heard the new human speak, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Why do they have another human on their team?" She said to the foot soldier behind her, not waiting for a response. "And such a scrawny one at that."

She pursed her lips, turning back to her team. "If they have another human around them he could be useful to me. Or at least know the way to their hideout. Find him, grab him, bring him to me."


	6. The One Where Raph Kicks Butt

"You want to go to school?" Leo shouted before Splinter had the chance to respond.

"Only for a week. Just to see what it's like." Donnie explained quickly, looking between his brothers and Sensei. April and Casey looked on, if not a tad bit out of place.

"Why?" Raph asked, giving a weird look. "You've seen it on TV, all kids do is complain about it. Obviously it's not that great."

"Yeah, but it could be different. We can't believe everything we see on the television." Donnie countered.

"I do not think this would be a wise decision." Splinter told him, and his brothers smiled triumphantly.

"Please, Sensei! No one will know it's me! I don't look like a turtle anymore, and no one knows that one of us changed species!"

"This sounds like the worst idea ever, Donnie."

"Leonardo, I will speak with your brother." He turned back to his son. "Donatello, I would think it would be unwise to enroll you in school. I prefer to keep you all off government records."

"I know that, but I wouldn't be on government records, Sensei. April explained it to me. They just say that I'm a friend visiting from out of town, or something like that, and they'll let me trail around her classes." He explained. "It's perfect. I get to go to school for a week, see what it's like, and there's no real enrolment."

"April, this is true?" Splinter asked, and Donnie smiled, knowing that there was a fighting chance.

"Yeah, my dad would just have to call the school, which would be easy enough. Then he would just go with me every day to my classes for the week."

"Please, Sensei." Donnie pleaded, clasping his hands together under his chin and giving his best puppy-dog eyes. They, were of course, rather convincing.

"I suppose there would be no  _real_  harm in you attending school, then." Splinter said after many moments of consideration. Leo and Raph gave their Sensei disbelieving looks while Mikey just looked surprised.

"But I expect you to train much harder in the evenings. And you must not put off any of your chores, or miss out on any missions you get called to."

"Hai, Sensei. Of course."

Splinter than said a few quick things in Japanese, causing Donnie to grimace and each of his brothers to exchange odd looks. They understood and were glad their father was finally addressing the issue.

 _ **/Japanese/**_ "This also means that I expect you to get to bed at a decent time. No staying up into the early hours of the morning and surviving off that horrible caffeine. Do you understand? This school will not affect your health any more than you have already done yourself."  _ **/Japanese/**_

"Hai... Sensei..." He trailed off, obviously put off by his teacher's words.

Splinter nodded, turning to go to his room, before turning back.

"When will you be going to school, Donatello?" He asked.

Donnie looked at April expectantly, "He can go tomorrow, since its Monday."

Splinter nodded. "Well if you have school tomorrow, perhaps it would be best for you two to return home for a good night's rest." He suggested.

"Right, it is getting pretty late, isn't it." Casey said, getting up and stretching. "Night guys."

"See ya, Case." Raph said, the rest giving small waves.

"You can just come to my house in the morning, Donnie." She told him and he nodded. "Around 7:30, should be good. See you in the morning."

Leo looked after Splinter, watching him walk towards his room, a frown still on his face. He looked to Raph who shared his expression, and gave a small shrug.

"Goodnight, April." He heard his brother say, and once both humans was gone he turned to his brothers. "Alright, guys, sparring time. Let's see if you've still got it as a human, Don."

\--

Donnie breathed in and out, kneeling in front of Mikey.

As they had done time and time again, they both stood up, giving one more breath before they readied. Their weapons positioned to begin their strike.

Donnie was now wearing the sweatpants April had grabbed him, not finding the jeans as manoeuvrable.

They both waited before, as usual, Mikey leapt first, his nunchakus swinging.

Donnie jumped away from his blow, using his staff to vault over his head, before turning around and twirling his staff. He let Mikey turn around before he ran forwards with a battle cry. He swung his staff towards his brother as he did.

Mikey jumped away, and Donnie swung again while he was in the air, causing Mikey to lose balance when he landed.

Don took this to his advantage and swung again at his brother's feet, hitting them right from under him. Mikey, though taken by surprise, managed to drop his nun chucks to spring back up to his feet.

Donnie jumped away, turning his staff again, before charging forwards with a battle cry.

Mikey jumped quickly to his weapons, picking them up and attempting to hit his brother with them. Donnie just narrowly missed getting hit, using his smaller stature to his advantaged. He managed to use his staff to swing around, kicking his brother square in the chest and sending him flying at the wall.

Mikey let out a cough, "Lucky shot." He said, before picking himself up and sitting outside the ring.

"And his lucks just run out," He heard his other brother say, and turned around to see Raph cracking his neck. Leo, meanwhile, sitting outside the ring pouting.

Donnie got in a fighting stance, but had an unsure look on his face.

"Is it too late to forfeit to Mikey?" He asked.

"Yup." Raph smiled, getting into his own stance.

"Then can I just take this time to remind you that only my back retained its turtle like resilience, and the rest of me breaks and bruises just like a regular human?"

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Raph told him, before charging forwards. Donatello followed suit, his staff twirling rapidly around his fingers.

He swung it at his brother as they were set to collide, and felt it stop mid track.

In their charge, Raph had gotten out his sai, and had Donnie's staff trapped between them. He tried to free it, but Raph quickly did the work for him, spinning around in the process and hitting Donnie in the stomach. The strike sent him flying backwards.

He managed to twist himself around, doing a flip in the air, and catch himself with the use of his staff. He used it as support as he clutched his stomach and let out a gasp of breath.

Leo and Mikey exchanged unsure looks, but didn't say anything as their brother's ran forwards again.

Donnie swung his staff, getting a hit on Raph's thigh, before sending it forwards again, this time not as lucky. Raph grabbed the end before it made contact with his arm, and swung it around, sending Donnie flying off the end.

Donnie hit the floor, rolling a few times before weakly lifting his head. He looked up just quick enough to watch Raph snap his staff in half.

He huffed out a breath, blowing his hair out of his face, before raising himself to rest on his forearms. "You didn't have to break my staff, Raph. The bruises will be proof enough that you won."

Raph shrugged, throwing the pieces to the side. "It's a personal victory." He joked, before walking over and offering a hand to Donnie. "You still put up an adequate fight, little bro, but as always, I am the best." He gloated.

"Oh, adequate. Three syllables, Raph, good for you." He teased back, but accepted the hand, pulling himself up. "And don't call me little bro, I'm older and you know it, give in."

"Pfft, right, you older than me. I think the mutation gave you a real sense of humour." Raph told him.

Once on his feet he tried to stand on his own before clutching at his stomach again and grimacing.

"Are you alright, D?" Mikey asked, walking over and observing his brother.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Though it'll probably leave a nasty bruise." He said, leaning back and letting his back crack. "Surprise, surprise, I told Raph the only place that wouldn't bruise, and he hit every where's but." He joked and Raph shrugged.

"You should've blocked my hits better."

"Alright guys, we're good for tonight. Let's get some sleep." Leo announced, hanging his katanas up on the wall before leading his brother's out.

\--

Donnie folded his blankets back, ready to get into bed when he heard someone at his door.

He turned around to see Leo leaning against his door frame. His mask and wrappings were off and he looked ready for bed.

"So, how many nights were you up before the mutation forced you to sleep?" Leo asked, crossing his arms.

Donnie looked away, fixing his pillows and Leo rolled his eyes at the silence.

"People don't just pass out after they get mutated. They're up in less than minutes and you were out for 8 hours. Can you just-"

"Six days.." Donnie mumbled quietly.

Leo rubbed his eyes and Donnie ducked his head, letting his hair fall in his face.

"Donatello, it's not healthy to stay up like that." Leo told him.

"Leo, I was so close to finding the cure! And I'm fine, I got some sleep, and I'm even going to sleep now. Or I would be if you weren't bugging me."

"I'm just worried about you, Don.."

"There's nothing to worry about. Six days are nothing, you know that."

Leo frowned, before shaking his head. "Just… get some rest. You have  _school_  in the morning." He told him, before walking back across the hall to his own room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted, I've been busy, but updates should be quicker now. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, and if you like it leave a comment~?
> 
> Kay, byyyye~


	7. The One Where Donnie Goes to School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think I might have stolen Aunt Susan from somebody, or at least her name, but I can't remember. Cred to them if you know who it was. <3 
> 
> Also the English teacher was based off my Law teacher, he was great. I miss him.

****

Donnie ran along the rooftops of New York, more out of habit than any need. Once he was on April's roof, he hopped down by her window and gave it a few quick knocks.

"You know, you're human now, you could have used the door." April told him once she opened it. Her hair was loose and hanging down around her face, and Donnie couldn't help but think it looked nice like that.

"Where's the fun in that?" He asked, crawling through.

"Well, I'm almost ready; you can go make yourself some coffee if you want." She suggested, gesturing out her door.

"Thanks." He smiled, walking out and grabbing what he needed for a coffee. He had been there enough to know where everything was.

He leaned back on the counter once it was done, lifting it to his lips and smiling. Just the taste was making him feel more awake.

His eyes opened at the sound of footsteps, and he looked up to see Mr. O'Neill. He was looking over the back of the couch, staring at him with a confused expression.

"Mornin'." Donnie greeted, lifting his mug up in a half-hearted wave.

After another moment of confusion for Kirby, he seemed to remember. "Right, you're human now.."

"Yup. Coffee?" Donnie offered, gesturing to the still half full pot.

"With milk, please." He nodded, and gladly took the cup from Donnie when it was ready.

"So, how have you been doing?" Donnie asked. "You haven't been showing any signs of mutation, have you? Nothing out of the ordinary?"

Kirby looked concerned. "Should I?" He asked.

"I don't know," Donnie shrugged, taking another drink. "You're the first person I ever used it on."

"It- It wasn't tested?" He asked, obviously getting a bit shook up on the matter.

"Not on an actual mutant, no. Just on some DNA samples. So is that a no on any side effects?" He asked, holding up Kirby's arm, then bending it.

"Um, no..." He said, eyeing Donnie warily. Donnie was either not noticing the man's discomfort or ignoring it altogether.

He was about to ask another question when a short, round women appeared in the doorway. Her red hair was in a messy bun and she still wore slippers with her jeans and blouse combo.

"Good morning, Kirby. I hope you slept well. Who's this?" She asked, and Donnie made a guess that that was April's aunt, Susan.

"I'm one of April's friends ." Donnie greeted her, dropping Kirby's arm and giving a charming smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, good to meet you, too. I'm April's aunt, Susan." She offered her hand and he shook it politely. "Are you and April walking to school?"

"Yeah, it's my first day, actually." He told her and she smiled.

"Oh, well that's wonderful. I'm so glad that April is making new friends. The only person she ever seems to hang out with these days is that Casey boy. She says she has other friends but have I ever met them? No." She seemed to be talking more to Kirby now but Donnie listened anyways, sipping his coffee with mild interest. "And if they're all like Casey then honestly I'd prefer if she  _was_  lying because-"

"Aunt Susan," Donnie turned to see April standing in the hallway, an annoyed look on her face. Susan stopped talking to turn to her. "That's enough. I _do_  have other friends, and even if they were all like Casey it wouldn't matter." She frowned, a bright blush on her face as she shot a small look at Donnie.

Donnie caught the message and set his empty cup in the sink. "Well, we better be head off now, school starts soon, doesn't it, April?" He asked, nodding towards the door.

"Yeah, let's go." She said, grabbing her bag. "Bye, dad, bye, Susan. See you afterschool." April said, before she and Donnie walked out the door.

It had been a fairly short walk to the school, with April apologizing for her aunt the entire way. But once they were there, Donnie couldn't stop looking around. His hyper-active brain trying to see everything at once.

"Calm down, Donnie. Really, it's not that big of a deal." She said, but her words meant nothing due to the smile on her face. It was kind of endearing how he was acting.

"Sorry, April, it's just so cool. I'm actually at a school, attending like a normal kid. Well, sort of attending. I'm here, at least." He corrected himself without need, as he often did.

She gave a small laugh as they walked through the doors of the school, leading them to her locker.

"Where's the bathroom?" Donnie asked, looking around for one.

"Didn't go before you left?" She asked teasingly.

"I didn't have a bladder full of coffee before I left." He told her.

"Just around the corner," She pointed, opening her locker and grabbing some books.

As Donnie walked away she heard him mutter to himself, "Sensei warned me about these  _public washrooms..._ "

The suspicion in his voice made it so that April couldn't help but giggle to herself.

"Who was that?" She heard behind her, and turned to see Irma staring in the direction Donnie had just walked off in.

"Oh," She said, and decided to just say the truth. Maybe this would get Irma off her back about meeting the other brothers. "That's one of the friend's I've told you about. The 'secret' friends or whatever you call them."

"April!" Irma said, hitting April in the arm with her books. "You never told me they were hot!"

April was a little thrown off by that.  _'Hot'_  was definitely not one of the words April used regularly to describe the turtles. They  _were_  turtles after all. Maybe cute or adorable was thrown around once in a while in their direction, but not hot.

Irma ignored April's pause and went on. "What's he doing here anyways, I thought you said they were right shy, home-schooled kids?"

"Oh, well, he wanted to see what regular school was like, so I'm letting him tag along with me for the week."

"What about his other brothers? You said there was four of them, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, four. The other three didn't want to go." She shrugged.

As April finished speaking, Donnie walked back from around the hall, Casey now with him. As they got closer she heard Donnie speaking, "That was disgusting. I am never stepping foot into another washroom in this place ever again."

Casey shrugged in reply. "You get used to it."

"I do  _not_  plan on getting used to it."

"Look at where you live, dude."

As they got back to the girls, Donnie looked Irma over.

"Donnie, this is my friend, Irma." April introduced. "Irma, this is Donnie."

"Hi," Irma smiled, giving a wave. "Nice to meet you."

April watched as her friend looked Donnie over closer, and saw her eyes catch around Donnie's own eyes. April turned to look herself and noticed that the florescent lights of the school seemed to make the red in his eyes stand out much more than usual.

Donnie seemed to catch the curious staring and bowed his head, "Nice to meet you, as well." He said politely and Irma smiled back.

The bell rang after the short exchange, causing Donnie to jump, then blush as he realized what it was. Kids began clearing out of the hallways, the small group included.

"So, where are we off to first?" Donnie asked, moving to walk besides April.

"English, we all have it together." She said and led him into one of the classrooms and to a seat near the middle.

Another bell sounded and a teacher rushed in, sitting at the desk at the front of the room.

"Good morning, class." He said, and looked around the room, eye landing on Donnie. "New student?" He asked.

"Guest," April said for him. "He's staying with me this week, and is going to be following me around to my classes."

"Ah, right, now I remember." He nodded. "What's your name, then?"

"Donatello, uh, Jones." Donnie spoke up, pulling at his shirt collar awkwardly while passing a glance towards Casey. The other boy raised an eyebrow in amusement. "You can call me Donnie, though, if you want."

The teacher nodded. "Well, my name is Mr. Harris, and you've joined at a great time, Donnie. We've only just jumped into the wonderful world of F. Scott Fitzgerald's ' _The Great Gatsby._ '"He announced, though the way he said it Donnie wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not. Mr. Harris walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a copy of the book, then walked over to hand it to him. "You can borrow this one for the week you're here. Have you read it already at your school?"

"Well, I'm home-schooled, actually," Donnie told him, "But I have read it before." He had been 11 when he had rescued a copy just short of it falling into the sewer water.

"Oh, good. Then you should have no problem following along. We're only a few chapters in. Now, everyone get out the homework you were assigned." He addressed the class and they did as told. Donnie looked over at April's work to see what sort of questions they were doing.

He sat listening to the other students answering and discussing the questions, until they go to the eighth on the sheet.

"So, can anyone tell me what Nick thought of Jordan?"

A few hands went up half-heartedly, and Mr. Harris's eyes landed on Donnie.

"Donnie, what about you, if you've read the book."

Donnie looked towards April, unsure, and she only shrugged.

"Oh, well, um, he believed she was dishonest." He answered.

"Why did he think that?"

"Well, two reasons. The first is that people had told him that she had cheated on the golf tournament. The second is because he thinks all women are dishonest. He thinks it's okay, however, because as women they are expected to lie. He's really kind of sexist, even though he says at the beginning of the book that he's not a very judgemental person."

"Yes, he is pretty judgemental throughout the entire book, and sexist. He's kind of an ass, really." The teacher chuckled, and Donnie raised an eyebrow at his language.

He had always though teachers weren't supposed to curse in front of their students. Splinter certainly didn't, and spent no time waiting to berate him or Raph whenever they did. Especially when Mikey started picking it up.

The last two questions were answered, one by Irma and another by someone else, then they read for the last 20 minutes of class. Donnie spent half of it reading and the other half looking around the classroom and at the other students.

They all seemed like anything he had seen on TV. There were ones who looked like jocks, in their varsity jackets, preppy girls with perfect hair and nails, the 'nerds' with their multiple textbooks, and just about every other stereotype you could think of.

He saw Irma sitting in front of April. She seemed nice enough, though Donnie had only said a few words to her. He wondered to himself if April had told her anything about him or his brother's. He assumed that if she had, it hadn't been anything much. Maybe he would ask her about it later.

He was jumped out of his thoughts by a bell sounding, and the ruffling of papers. He stood up with April, and waited for her to get her stuff gathered.

"Where to next?" He asked.

"Gym, unfortunately." She told him, her face scrunching up in distaste. "You're going to have to borrow a uniform from the school."

"A gym uniform?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's just a basketball uniform, shorts and a t-shirt, that kind of thing."

"Great." He said sarcastically as he followed her to the gym.


	8. The One Where Donnie Sucks at Dodgeball

****

Stepping out of the boy's changing room, Donnie gave the collar of his white t-shirt a tug. It, matched with the baggy red basketball shorts, made him look much skinnier then his other clothes. Not to mention he hadn't bothered replacing the tan wrappings on his legs that morning, so they were still what he wore rather than socks. They had gotten a few strange looks from inside the locker room.

He also had a few scars running up his arms and legs that he would much rather keep covered.

"I look absolutely ridiculous." He said with an annoyed expression when April walked to him.

"You look fine, stop being a baby."

"I feel like a dork." He argued, trying to pull the short sleeves over his arms.

"You look like a dork." He rolled his eyes at Casey's comment, folding his arms over his chest. "Also, it really is nice to finally meet you, Donnie  _Jones._ " He drawled out, looking highly amused.

"I panicked!" Donnie said as an excuse. "Jones is a common enough name to use. Whereas 'Hamato' would have attracted every Foot in New York."

"O'Neil's pretty common too." He suggested.

"If I used O'Neil people probably would have assumed I was related to her." Donnie said.

"And what's wrong with that?" Casey asked, a mischievous smirk turning up his lips.

Donnie's cheeks lit up in a bright red that had him very much missing his green, more concealing skin. He opened his mouth to respond but instead just gapped for a moment. Any sort of witty reply eluding his mind.

"What are you even doing here, Casey? You hardly ever show up for gym." April asked when she noticed Donnie floundering.

"Did you know you can fail gym from lack of attendance?" Casey asked, his smirk being replaced by a sheepish smile.

Donnie laughed, and Casey frowned.

"What are you laughing at?" He asked, hitting Donnie in the arm. It wasn't meant to hurt him, obviously just being one of the joking hits Casey was known for, but it hurt Donnie despite that. He gave a pained gasp, rubbing his arm tenderly.

"Donnie, are you alright?" April asked, while Casey looked confused that he had caused so much damage from just one hit.

"Uh yeah, just a rough training session last night.." He said, and moved his hand to show the large bruise on his arm. "I used to have thicker skin…"

"That looks really bad, Don.." April said, her eyebrows knitted together in worry.

"Oh don't worry about them. My stomach's worse." He shrugged, but April didn't take the comment lightly.

"Why? What's wrong with your stomach?" She asked, and lifted his shirt up to show the large purple and black bruise, ignoring the blush it caused him. "Oh my god, Donnie!" She exclaimed.

"Holy shit, Don." Casey said, Irma coming up behind them and seeing the wound as well.

"What happened to you?" Irma asked, showing the same worry April had.

Donnie's blush increased ten-fold, and he quickly pushed April's hand out of the way to put his shirt back down.

"Oh, uh," He trailed off, thinking up an answer before shrugging. "I've got three brothers, y'know. We basically use each other as punching bags.."

"Raph?" Casey asked and Donnie gave a nod.

"This is normal?" Irma asked, looking between the boys with a confused face.

Donnie struggled for something to say. Something that would make it seem like they don't openly abuse each other. Before he had to, though, a whistle blew and the group of teens gathered around the teacher; a gruff man who looked to be in his early forties.

"Alright, today we play a good old game of dodgeball, since so many of you have been requesting it. We'll split off into two teams. Birthdays from November to May on that side, June to October on the other. We'll even it out from there."

Donnie walked to the side of the gym that June was assigned. When he turned he realized that all April, Casey and Irma were on the other side.

He debated on turning around and running to the other side of the gym, but decided against it. Though he had started to regret picking the Summer Solstice as his birthday.

Damn 7 year old him.

He stood in the group of chatting teens, holding his arm uncomfrtably. He looked over at April and saw her raising an eyebrow at him. He gave a small shrug, and got ready when the rest of the other kids did as the teacher lined the balls up.

A whistle sounded, and half of the gym ran for the middle line, trying to scoop up as much ammo as possible. Then balls began flying towards each side of the gym.

Donnie held back, watching everyone else running around the gym. He knew how to play dodge ball, him and his brothers played it all the time. It wasn't an overly complicated game. Hit the opposing team with the balls, don't get hit yourself.

Slowly people started getting out, going to sit on the bleachers and wait to be able to go back in.

He was just looking around, not really playing, though the balls were easy enough to dodge. He spent his time watching the other kids instead, until he saw a ball hurtling at his head.

He caught it inches from hitting, and later he would thank his lucky stars too. The last thing he wanted to do was have to relay the story behind a bruise like that to his brothers.

He'd never live it down.

But for now he got on the defensive. A year of battle and a lifetime of training jumping his mind to the thought of some ill-intention.

Within seconds the ball was hurtling back in the direction it came from. It hit the other kid in the stomach and sent him to the ground with a grunt.

Donnie's thoughts sprang back and he cursed his instincts. Looking around hesitantly he saw that now more than a few kids were looking at him.

He looked away nervously, fixing his bangs before turning around. He walked a few fee and nonchalantly picked a ball up. Glancing over his shoulder he saw the kid sitting down, holding his stomach.

"Whoops..." He said to himself, giving a small wince. He decided to just dodge the balls, instead of catching them, and tossed the one he had in his hand to another kid.

The game ended after a while, and they were supposed to be running laps around the gym until it was time to get changed. Though the majority of the class was just walking, April and Donnie included.

"So, that kid on your team is okay, right?" Donnie asked, trying to spot him around the room.

"Yeah, but you knocked the wind out of him, idiot!" She punched him in the arm, but she was laughing, causing Donnie to let out a small chuckle.

"I didn't mean to! It was instinct! Usually when things are hurtling at my face the intent is to kill. Or it's a blind fit of rage and the object is Leatherhead's hand.."

April laughed again, and Donnie gave a half-hearted smile and a shrug.

"By the way, when  _is_  your birthday, because I thought that it was the same as Mutation day..." She asked.

"No, when we were little we decided to pick birthdays out for ourselves. Leo picked January 1st, because he was the oldest and Mikey chose Christmas because he wanted extra presents. Raph and I celebrate on the summer solstice, June 21st because it's the longest day of the year."

"You and Raph are twins?" April asked and Donnie shook his head.

"No, not necessarily. We don't know which one of us is older, so to stop the fighting Splinter said we would have to share a birthday. We just have no way to know for sure. I mean, for the other two it's obvious, Leo practically screams older brother, and Mikey is nothing but the baby of the family, but for Raph and I we have no idea."

"Hey, what're we talking about?" Casey asked, running up between them, and slinking his arms around both of their shoulders.

"Birthdays," April said simply.

"When is your birthday, Donnie? You're not older than me, are you?" He asked with a joking smile.

"I doubt it. I'm only 15. You're all 16, aren't you?" He asked.

"Seventeen, but only just." Casey smiled. "We're almost adults, Red, and Donnie can't even get his driver's licence yet." He teased and Donnie rolled eyes.

"Yes, because age was the determining factor in me getting my licence." He rolled his eyes, "And I already have a car, and drive it regularly, so I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, yeah, but it's not legal."

"Casey, absouletly no part of my life could be classified as legal." Donnie rolled his eyes. "I mean, I raid military junk yards, for Darwin's sake."

"Yes, very illegal. You're quite the bad boy, Don."

April laughed and Irma came up behind them. "Like something being illegal has ever stopped you from doing it, Jones." She joked. "Now what's not legal?"

"Me, driving." Donnie told her.

"You don't have your permit yet, or what?" She asked.

"Can't yet. I'm still 15."

"Oh, man. You're so tall, I thought you were our age. And you knew all that stuff in our English class." She said.

"Nope. Just really tall and sort of smart I guess. Home-schooled kids, am I right?" He tried to joke.

"So are all your brothers as smart as you?" She asked, and Casey laughed, April rolling her eyes at him.

"Absolutely not." Casey said, while Donnie rolled his eyes.

"They're all smart in their own ways." April tried, frowning at the boys.

"Actually, Leo, my oldest brother," he added for Irma's sake, "Is quite smart. He had that whole 'have to be the perfect son' thing going on, which made him try really hard throughout school lessons. Of course, I'm still smarter, since I've dedicated nearly all my free time to intellectual pursuits."

"So, Donnie, Leo, Raph and.." Irma trailed off, hoping for someone to fill in the blank.

"Oh, um, Mikey." Donnie said, suddenly feeling a little nervous. He was going off about his family like there whole existence wasn't a secret. Maybe he should stop talking so much.

"And he's your.. youngest brother?" She asked, and Donnie gave a nod. "And so Raph is your.."

"Unknown placement.."

"You don't know which of you is older?"

"Yes, well, um, we were adopted, right, and the agency didn't know, so we don't know.."

Irma looked like she had another question to ask, but was cut off by a whistle blowing, signalling that it was time to change. Donnie watched her and April walk to the girl's changing room as he followed Casey to the boys.


	9. The One With the Impressions

The next two classes passed by, Biology and Journalism.

Donnie hadn't been overly entertained in either class. He had mostly just watching how other kids acted and tried to mimic them for the most part.

He already knew all the biology they were doing, as it was a subject he had covered years before. Writing, however, had never been one of his preferred activities. Though, from what she had let him read, April seemed to be fairing quite well with it.

By the time lunch came Donnie was thankful. He piled a few slices of pizza onto his tray and paid with the money he had brought.

April had stayed behind with Irma while she dressed her hamburger.

"So, is Donnie liking public high school?" Irma asked, trying to pick up a conversation.

"I don't know.." April's lips pursed. "I think he's bored." She said.

"He doesn't look very bored." Irma raised an eyebrow, gesturing to where the boys were sitting. Donnie was laughing as Casey tried to fit two pieces of pizza in his mouth.

"I meant in the classes." April told her. "He's so smart, I think if he were to ever actually go to a real school, it would be a university. If he even decided to do that publicly."

"I don't understand why are he and his brother's so shut in. I mean, he seems normal enough, I don't see why I can't meet the rest of them."

"It's complicated."

Irma shrugged at April's simple answer. "Whatever, all I know is that group of girls over there would be plenty happy if he stuck around." She pointed in the general direction of the boy's table wih a small smirk on her face.

"What group of girls?" April asked, and looked back over towards the boys, and then farther back to a table with a few girls. She recognized some from a few of her classes. "Why are they staring at him like that?"

"Because he's attractive, you dumb." Irma told her, rolling his eyes. "He's got that whole, nerd-chic thing going on. It's cute."

April scrunched her nose up, not sure how she felt about that. Well, she did, it annoyed her, which annoyed her as well. It wasn't up to her whether girls found Donnie's new appearance attractive or not.

"Have you really never noticed?" Irma asked,her eyebrows raised. "Were you distracted? Are one of the other brothers  _better looking_?"

April shook her head, looking over as Donnie laugh at Casey. "I guess I never really looked at them like that."

"I don't see how you couldn't." Irma smiled, and April frowned. "You said they were like, quadruplets, right? Are they identical? Are there three more of  _him_  running around New York?"

"They're non-identical." She said, her answer relying almost solely on their heights and eye colours. She then decided to move on from the topic before Irma asked another question. "Anyways, I just don't think he really likes public school as much, but you should probably ask him, not me." She picked up her food and walked towards the table.

Once they got over she sat down and gave Casey a weird look.

The teen was currently pounding on his chest, his face was very red and he was coughing.

"What the heck happened?"

"News of the day, Casey cannot fit three slices of pizza in his mouth." Donnie announced to them, starting on his last slice of pizza.

"Of course I can, it just went in wrong." He wheezed, finally getting his face back to normal colour. "I'll manage it eventually."

"I highly doubt that happening. The odds of your mouth getting a whole pizza slice bigger when you're already 17 are slim to none." Donnie told him. "And even if it did, Mikey managed 4 the other night, so you'd still be behind.  _And_  we're still due for another growth spurt."

"I don't care, I'm still not giving up." He said.

"I wish you would."

He ignored April's comment and went on. "I'll get more in my mouth than your brother one day." Donnie let out a loud snort, choking on the drink he had taking.

He coughed and laughed at the same time, still managing to get out a strangled. "I'm sure you will, Case. But I do  _not_  want to be there to see it." The girls now joining in on the giggle fit.

Casey's face went red, "That's not what I meant, genius!" He shouted.

The laughter coming from their table died down and they all continued eating. The only sound being the regular buzz of the cafeteria until Irma spoke up.

"So, Donnie, do you like the school?"

Donnie nodded, swallowing his last bite of pizza. "Yeah, it's pretty cool, so far. The classes are pretty slow, though. I mean, I read the Great Gatsby when I was eleven and honestly I didn't really care for it the first time. And I haven't done anything concerning the patterns of heredity and human genetics in quite a few years." He told her. "Plus I don't like writing much, so Journalism is pretty passé for me. And don't even get me started on that gym uniform."

He wiped his hands off and tossed the napkin on his tray, Irma raised an eyebrow at him.

"Eleven years old?" She asked. "Man, when you said you were sort of smart, you meant really smart." She told him, and he shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I guess. I mean, I've never had any formal testing done, but by my own accord I'd say I'm pretty high up there when it comes to I.Q." He gave a small shrug.

"Man, I never thought I'd see the day when Donatello is acting modest." Casey smirked, finishing off his own lunch.

"What are you talking about? I'm modest all the time!"

"Yeah, compared to maybe Raph or someone, but all you do is brag at home! 'Oh, I built this, oh, I fixed this, look at me April, aren't I smart?'"

Donnie's cheeks flushed at Casey's impression of him, his eyes momentarily glancing towards April before back at him. "That's  _not_  what I sound like. I show them the stuff I build,  _yeah_ , but I don't  _brag._ If anyone does it's  _you_." He said, then started his own impression of Casey. "'Did you see that hit, look how cool I look, Raph! Did you see me knock that guy into next week? Nobody beats the amazing Casey Jones!'" It was Casey's turn to look offended.

"Alright," April cut in, picking up her tray. "We're done our lunch now, so I'm going to go show Donnie the rest of the school." She pushed Donnie out of his seat. "Bye, guys."

Irma frowned, smacking Casey on the arm. "I was having a conversation with him." She told him.

"And now you're not." He shrugged, grabbing his own tray and heading off to where he would find his friends.

"So, where to next?" Donnie asked.

They had spent the last 20 minutes touring the school and were now stopped at April's locker to collect her books.

"Math and then Japanese," She told him, taking out the appropriate books.

"You're taking Japanese?" He asked, sounding quite surprised and she didn't miss the start of a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I didn't even know it was a class offered here until this year when I decided to look." She shrugged, closing her locker and leading Donnie to her math room.

"Any particular reason?" He asked with a smirk.

April rolled her eyes. "No," she dragged out sarcastically. "Not at all."

"Well, if it's for us, why then? I mean, we speak English mostly."

"That's not true in the slightest." She shook her head and Donnie raised an eyebrow. "I can name at least 10 different occasions where you guys have slipped into Japanese without even realizing it."

Donnie tilted his head, a confused expression still on his face. "Do we really?" He asked.

"Yeah, mostly you and Leo and mostly when you're yelling at each other. Though, sometimes you guys will just start up a conversation in Japanese without any warning." She told him. "Once  _you_  even slipped into a whole different language. Like, Polish or something."

"Well, I don't know Polish, so probably not that. Russian maybe?" He suggested.

"You don't know? How many languages do you know?"

"Eleven. Twelve, if you think European French and Canadian French count as separate languages, which I do." He thought for a moment. "Thirteen. I know sign language too."

"What the heck, Donnie?" She asked.

"I was a bored child." He shrugged as they walked into the classroom.

Donnie twirled his pencil around his fingers. He still found himself omitting the use of his two new fingers and attempted to get as much practice in with them as he could.

He glanced up at the board as the teacher explained a 'difficult' equation.

He knew the math. He didn't know why he thought he wouldn't know it. He had been doing math like this years before.

He looked over to April, seeing her struggling to follow the instructions. Je expected that they would have to plan a study session with her. At least he already knew what they would be working on.

He then looked over to the boy beside him, a burly teen with blond hair and sports jacket, copying the equations down as well. He wondered if he should do it as well, but shrugged it off. Not only would it prove useless to him learning anything new, but it would also be a waste of paper.

The teacher, an older man with greying hair, had announced that there would be a test that Friday, and he wondered if he would participate.

He felt a poke on his shoulder and looked back in April's direction.

"Do you know how to do this?" She whispered and he nodded. "Study session tonight?" She asked and he nodded again, giving her a large smile.

He spent the remainder of the class looking around, and once in while jotting down an equation.

A few times his eyes went to Casey, who apparently shared this class with April, as well. He spent most of his class either flicking eraser bits at other kids or preforming the motion that would make his pencil look like rubber. No wonder April had to tutor him.

Eventually the bell rang and he followed April out into the hallway, nearly getting lost in the flood of people as they tried to get down the stairs.

He found out the Japanese class was taught by a young Japanese women with short black hair. She reminded him a lot of and older Karai.

"Oh, is the student that will be following you around, April?" She asked, a clear accent in her voice.

"Yeah, this is Donatello, uh, Jones; he'll be coming to my classes for the week." She introduced him.

"You can just call me Donnie." He told her smiling.

"Well, my name is Mrs. Hirano, I'm the Japanese teacher, as you may have guessed. Do you know any Japanese, Donnie-san?"

"I'm fluent, actually." He told her.

"That's excellent." She smiled encouragingly. "Maybe you could even help me with teaching some of the students whie you are here." She joked, and Donnie laughed slightly before April pulled him along to her desk.

The class was fun, he thought and April was doing pretty well in it. He thought maybe he would mention it to his family so they stopped using it around her for 'secret' messages.

He spent a lot of the class doodling Japanese characters while he listened, and before he knew it the bell was ringing and it was time to go home.


	10. The One with the Paint

April walked through the turnstiles into the lair, her school books stacked neatly in her arms. As they had planned, Donnie was supposed to help her with her math work from that afternoon.

"Hey guys." She called out, and in reply she was almost blown over by Mikey.

He was running through the lair laughing loudly with a paint brush in hand.

"Hey, watch it, Mikey!" She shouted, catching her books before they dropped to the ground.

"MIKEY, Get back here!" She heard Donnie shout and as she jumped out of the way she fell to the ground, her books falling next to her.

"You'll never take me alive!" Mikey yelled, and she looked up just in time to see him charge into the bathroom after his younger brother.

"I can work with that!"

The laughter continued until it was very suddenly cut off. Replacing it was Mikey's panicked screaming., "Donnie, no! DONNIE!"

A moment later Donnie backed out of the bathroom, the aforementioned paintbrush now in his hand. April finally caught sight of the large blue writing that spelt 'Mikey' painted across his back. She made an educated guess that it was the reason behind the chase scene.

Mikey quickly followed him out, wearing a pout with a large blue line painted down his face, mask included.

"Dude, did you have to paint my face?"

"You signed my back, Mikey. It was justified revenge." He said, but she could see the smug look on his face once he turned around. She could also see his very much shirtless chest, and couldn't help stare, if only for a moment.

Donnie's grin was quickly replaced with a look of confusion as he noticed April sitting on the floor, books scattered around her.

"April, what are you doing on the floor?" He asked, walking over to her and offering his hand to help her up.

April shook out of her stare as he walked over and managed a frown.

"You and Mikey bowled me over in your little chase scene." She told him, sounding angry, though she took his hand anyways.

A blush spread across his face. "I'm so sorry April, I didn't even notice. You're not hurt, are you?" He asked her and quickly went to pick up her books.

She felt herself staring again, his sweat pants hanging low around his waist, and slipping slightly as he bent to collect the books. Once she noticed where she was looking a blush redder than her hair quickly spread across her face.

"Uh, no, no, of course not, I'm fine." April told him, looking down to the floor to hide her face. She took her books from him, trying to ignore her thoughts and quickly pick up a new topic. "Why are you two painting each other?" She asked, looking back to where Mikey was trying to scrub the blue line from his face.

Donnie sighed. "We're not. Well, not  _supposed_ to be, anyways _._ Splinter found some paint so we're re-doing the kitchen." He gestured towards the area with his paintbrush, and April noticed Leo in through the door. He was diligently working at the wall with the light blue colour.

"Well, some of us are painting. Others are standing around talking, or chasing each other!" She heard Leo yell and gave a small laugh.

"We better get back to it then." Donnie rolled his eyes.

"You think?" Raph yelled this time.

"Raph you chased him around the house for 20 minutes when he wrote 'Loser' on your shell, don't be getting on  _my_  case about it!" Donnie called back, and then turned back to April. "Want to help?" He asked, offering her the paint brush in his hand.

She shrugged. "It's not like I have anything better to do." She took the paint brush from him and returned his bright smile.

He turned back around, walking back to the kitchen, grabbing Mikey and dragging him on his way. April's eyes followed him until he disappeared through the door.

She shook out of it once again and another blush spread over her cheeks.

 _He is attractive,_  she thought and her blush deepened.  _Damn it, Irma._

She tried to shake away the thoughts, walking into the kitchen and catching sight of the large printed 'Loser' scrawled across Raph's shell, and the crudely drawn spaceship flying across Leo's.

Apparently Mikey had been busy.

\--

Raph looked over the edge of the roof, a small scowl on his lips as Casey caught up.

"Dude, I thought I told you to wait up like, three roofs ago?" The human asked, fixing the bag on his shoulders and catching his breath.

"Casey, if you're gonna go patrolling with me you have to learn to keep up." Raph replied, his frown not lifting like it usually would when Casey was unable to keep his pace. The usual teasing was absent from his voice as well.

Casey's mouth slipped into its own frown, and he plopped down next to Raph. He waited to see if the turtle would strike up a conversation, but he just seemed to sit in his bad mood, picking at something blue stuck on his leg. Paint, maybe.

Now, Casey was no expert when it came to feelings, people  _or_  emotions, but he knew when his best friend was in an especially bad mood. It seemed like there was only one new variable that could cause it. Unless Leo had done something when he wasn't around.

"So, Donnie's mutation.." He lead off and Raph rolled his eyes.

"What about it?"

"I don't know. Just wondering how you're dealin'?" He shrugged.

"How I'm dealing with what?" Raph asked, rather aggressively. "If Donnie wants to go prancing around playing human who am I to stop him?" He got up to his feet, stomping off to the next roof.

Casey stood, quickly following him along. "I'm just saying, you've been in an even worse mood than usual."

"I'm fine, Jones. And even if I wasn't, it wouldn't be because of Don's new look. Honestly, I don't give two damns about it." Raph huffed and jumped away: a clear indicator that the conversation was over.

\--

Donnie opened the door to his lab, pulling at the collar of his t-shirt.

It was getting late and April had just left. It had taken a while, but she finally understood what they were doing in math. Now he had his own work to do.

Not really. He just couldn't sleep.

He sat at his desk, rolling a pencil in between his fingers pointlessly. He gave a small smile as he spotted some blue paint he had missed on his hand.

Ridding themselves of the many doodles and words sprawled across themselves had taken longer than painting the kitchen itself, he was sure. Just Mikey's work alone had taken forever to scrub off. He had decided halfway into the work that Donnie would look better if his chest, shoulders and arms were blue. As well as adding to the words written across his back, writing as many synonyms for 'nerd' as he could think up.

Then he had to help scrub it off his brother's shells, and there had been many words added to the first bouts of Mikey's boredom. Raph had even gotten involved, painting on as many curse words as he knew down Leo's and his arms. And there were a lot, spreading across three languages.

Eventually even April joined in on the fun, making a small scene on the back of Mikey's shell. Then completing the line Donnie had started on his face by running it down the back of his head. Then she had pushed Donnie into stepping into one of the buckets, resulting in Leo picking him up and rubbing his foot against the wall to try and conserve paint.

Since April didn't have very much exposed skin, her clothing had suffered for that and all the other doodles she made. And Donnie had made a show of adding some new 'freckles' to her face as payback for his blue foot.

Eventually the mutant brothers were more blue than green, and Donnie had more blue hair than brown. That would be courtesy of Raphael dumping the remaining paint over his head. He had quickly found out that hair was a horrible pain to wash out, and he was sure he still had many spots hidden through the short waves.

He laughed at the memories, as it had been a very enjoyable afternoon, the tutoring as well, (an hour and a half of undivided attention from April), but his smile fell shortly after.

Setting the pencil down, he looked at his hand, twisting it to see every angle. A small blue patch on his palm, hanging on throughout the vigorous scrubbing it had endured. He bent and flexed his fingers, counting them over and over in his head.

1

2

3

4

5

He looked at the door leading back to the rest of the house, then to the ceiling, where just a few meters away was the open world. He rolled his tongue over the place where a tooth was missing, as he often did when he was thinking.

He could run.

The thought surprised him. Similar thoughts had crossed his mind before, more times than he was happy to admit really, but never with such sincerity. Never with such a clear chance of being able to escape. As a human it would be much easier to find a place outside his family.

He  _could_ run.

Pack some things into a bag and just leave in the middle of the night. They could probably track him, somehow, but maybe Master Splinter would let them. Maybe he would understand, wanting to run. He did it himself, twice. Once from Japan, and another from the topside.

Maybe they couldn't track him though. Maybe he could get far enough away so that he could never be found.

He was too different from his family now. A freak among freaks, even. He didn't feel like he really belonged down here anymore.

He could belong to the human world now. Forge some documents; find a job, a place to live. He could be normal, escape the underside of the city and live a regular life. How could his family judge him for that, they'd probably all give their shells up for the chance.

But could he ever  _really_  leave them?

A wiser decision would be to just fix the problem.

That's what he did, anyways. He fixed things.

Whether it was the toaster or his species, no matter how much he had wished for a chance at a normal human life. He cared about his family more than his happiness, and even if they would never admit it, they needed him.

They all needed each other.

Letting out another sigh he dug around his desk for some paper. Quickly he set to work, writing, and erasing, and crossing out and writing some more.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love that first scene. It was so cute and fun to write.
> 
> Leave some comments if you'd like~


	11. The One with the Football Game

The next morning Donnie exited the lab, trying to wipe the lack of sleep from his eyes

He crept his way to the washroom, getting himself ready for the following day.

As he passed the mirror he noted many blue spots in his dishevelled hair, and frowned. Turning his head to the side he noted that half of his ear still had paint clinging to it.

How had I missed that? He thought to himself, before ridding himself of his clothes and stepping into the shower. Hopeful that he would be able to rid himself of the rest of the blue, as well as try and wake himself up after a busy all-nighter.

Thirty minutes later he stepped out of the bathroom, wet hair still clinging to his head. He made his way out to the main room to get some breakfast and nearly gave a shout of surprise when Leo was already sat at the table.

He quickly composed himself and walked to the coffee maker.

"Morning, Leo." He said, preparing the coffee grinds before leaning against the counter.

Leo rolled his eyes, stirring his tea. "Morning, Don. What are you doing up so early?"

"I have school." Donnie reminded him. He knew what Leo meant. His brother had probably watched him walk out of the lab that morning. He wanted to hit himself for not thinking of that.

Leo sighed, which confirmed Donnie's suspicions. "That's not what I meant, Donnie. It's not healthy-"

"Obviously I know that, Leo. It's not exactly an active choice not to be able to sleep, but I would much rather be doing things than lying in bed uselessly."

"Well why don't you try and do something about it? You're smart enough to figure out a way to get your eyes to close for a couple hours a night."

"There are too many other things to do," He snapped back.

"Why the shell are you guys yelling this early in the morning?" Raph asked, walking into the kitchen and rubbing his eyes, his mask not yet wrapped around his eyes.

"It's nothing." Donnie said, crossing his arms over his chest as he waited for his coffee.

"He stayed up all night again, didn't he?" Raph asked, pointing a finger at Donnie.

"Yeah. Even after he promised Splinter." Leo replied.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here." Donnie told them. "I'm fine, it's one night; I’ve had a lot on my mind and couldn't sleep. It's not bad, I've done worse."

"Just because you've 'done worse' doesn't mean its fine, Donatello." Leo told him, narrowing his eyes.

"Well, if you haven't noticed, I've got a lot going on right now, Leonardo." Donnie gestured down to his new body, glaring at his brothers.

"That doesn't mean you should stop taking care of yourself."

Donnie rolled his eyes and grabbed his coffee and his bag, throwing a few things into it.

"Good morning, my sons." Splinter greeted as he entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, Sensei." They all greeted in return, Raph taking the down in the yelling match to wrap his mask around his eyes.

"Sensei, I'm going to go to a football game afterschool today with April and Casey, if that's alright?"

"What about your chores?"

"I did what I could yesterday, Mikey traded with me for dish duty and I can do the rest after dinner."

Splinter gave him a suspicious glance before going to make himself tea. "I suppose if your chores will be finished, and you are home by dinner, then it is no problem. And you will be home by dinner?"

"Hai, Sensei. The game is only until 5:30." He told him.

"Very well. I will see you when you get home, because I believe you should be off to school now." Splinter gestured to the clock, and Donnie nodded.

"Hai, Sensei. See you tonight." He told them all, slipping the contractible bow staff underneath his pant leg before walking out to the tunnels and disappearing in the darkness.

 

"He stayed up?" Splinter asked, once he was gone.

"All night." Leo sighed while Raph frowned.

\--

Donnie arrived at April’s right on time and together they walked to school.

So far he was rather confused. Every time school was mentioned on the television or in a book, or anywhere’s, it was always in distaste, with the kids not wanting anything to do with it. But as far as he could tell, it was rather enjoyable, and would probably be even more so if he didn’t already know the material they were learning.

He tried looking at it from the human’s perspective, and yes, he could see how getting out of bed in the morning just to go to school could have its setbacks. But he’s was up at this time anyways, and he’d much rather go here than to morning training.

Not that he disliked training, but he much preferred evening training. In the morning it was a long, strenuous practice, that if you didn’t get up early enough for you had to do on an empty stomach. Because if you weren’t on time for morning training you better hope you‘re dying, or Splinter will hand your ass to you on a silver platter.

So really, school seemed great.

Though, maybe comparing himself to other students wasn’t conclusive data.

He blinked out of his thinking when he felt someone poking him on the shoulder, and looked over.

“You okay, Don?” April asked. He blinked again, he must have been staring into space longer than he thought.

“Um, yeah, just thinking.” He said, he looked around, people were starting to pack up, and before he could completely blink out of his stupor the bell rang, making him jump.

“Why does that bell have to be so loud?” He asked and April gave a small laugh.

“So that it wakes some people up.” She answered, motioning towards Casey who looked like he had just woken up. She walked over to him and hit him lightly with her pile of books. “Com’on, Jones. We’ve got gym.”

\--

By lunch Donnie had been starving, only then realizing he hadn't eaten anything yet that day.

Getting three slices of pizza from the cafeteria as well as a milk, a thing of French fries and a bag of chips, he made his way with April to the lunch table that already sat Irma and Casey.

"I dare you to put the chips on the pizza." Casey told Donnie, pointing to the two things on his tray.

"Oh, please." Donnie said as he crushed the chips onto his pizza and took a large bite.

"That's disgusting." Irma declared.

"Agreed."

"You haven't seen disgusting until you've seen my brother's diet. Mikey's favourite is jellybeans, anchovies and jalapenos on pizza." Donnie told Irma who made a disgusted face. "Though, it's not that bad." He shrugged, putting a few fries on his pizza as well as Casey's crushed up cookie at his suggestion.

"It is that bad, do not trust him, Irma." April advised.

"I think I'd try it as soon as I try that." Irma pointed to Donnie's plate while the mutant merely shrugged and took a large bite.

"This isn't bad, either, actually." He said.

The girls gave him looks while Casey raised an eyebrow and took the pizza from Donnie, taking a bite.

"Anyway, before I throw up, are you going to the game afterschool, Donnie?" Irma asked.

"Oh, yeah, but my father said that I have to be home in time for dinner, so 5:30. I have chores to do, and stuff."

"Is your father really strict?" Irma asked, tilting her head.

"Yes, but he means well." Donnie shrugged again.

"I'd be pretty strict too if I had to raise Raph. Or Mikey."

"You should have seen them as toddlers.”

"Were they that bad?"

"Who do you think knocked out my tooth?" Donnie smiled, showing the gap, and Casey let out another laugh while April raised an eyebrow.

"That's probably more entertaining than my teeth stories."

"Yeah, but I've only got the one. You've got what, 9? 10?"

"4." Casey frowned at Donnie's smirk. "But, at least it wasn't my brother doing it to me."

Donnie shrugged. “Yeah, but I wasn’t exactly an angel, either. We left that to Leo.” He took another bite of his pizza then offered another bite to Casey, who took it happily, having been upset earlier that hour about forgetting his lunch money.

"How are you two eating that?" Irma asked.

"They're boys. They'll eat just about anything."

"It all goes to the same place."

"No, I draw the line at Pizza milkshakes." Donnie declared, then caught Irma's look. "My younger brother really like's Pizza." He smiled sheepishly, giving another small shrug.

\--

April worked on her math worksheet, stumbling to answer the question.

She took a glance over at Donnie's and saw it filled out already, though he was still scribbling something down on a sheet of scrap paper.

She watched curiously as his hand wrote words and numbers in both English and Japanese.

He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "Do you need help with your work, April?" He asked, looking at her sheet.

She shook her head. "No, I was just seeing if you were done or not."

He nodded, looking back to his scrap paper with furrowed eyebrows.

\--

The last class of the day was easy to sit through. It was entertaining to listen to Mrs. Hirano teach her class Japanese, especially whenever April spoke out loud.

When the bell rang signaling the end of the day, Donnie draped his bag over his shoulder and followed April out the door and to her locker.  
Irma and Casey showed up shortly after.

"Are you guys ready to show some school spirit?" April asked.

"No."

"Not really."

"I don't even go here..." Casey, Irma and Donnie each replied in turn.

"Then why are we going?" April questioned.

"Cheerleaders."

"Attractive guys in shorts."

"Because you guys asked." They replied again.

"Well, shouldn't this be fun." April sighed as they headed around the back of the school to the football field.

"Fun enough to spend the afternoon." Irma smiled.

\--

Karai pulled the hood of her black sweater over her head and leaned against the fence of the football field.

She was currently watching the new brown haired boy from the corner of her eye.

She couldn't for the life of her figure out what made him special, or why the turtles would keep him around, but she had seen him with the April girl a few times, and saw him with one of the turtles, so he must be important.

He'd make good bait if he didn’t talk, anyways, though he would probably talk after a little persuasion. She just had to get him alone, which was proving to be difficult enough. She didn't want the red head or vigilante running off to the turtles immediately.

She would have to watch him, wait for a moment of opportunity to strike. She just hoped one came soon. She noted that he was looking around almost suspiciously and decided it was time to make her leave.


	12. The One a Bored Mikey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait, i'm kinda horrible at updating regularly.

Mikey sat in the main room of the lair, nonchalantly flipping through channels.  
"Michelangelo, are you alright?" Splinter asked.  
Mikey gave a loud sigh, leaning further into the couch. "I'm bored!" He shouted, throwing his hands up in distress. "There's nothing to do!"  
"Well, where are your brothers?"  
"Raph's out with Casey, and Leo's meditating or something, and Donnie got home and went straight to his dumb lab."  
"His dumb lab?" Splinter asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is there a reason why Donatello's activity gets an insult while the others are left alone?"  
Mikey looked up at his father and teacher, his frown deepening. "Ever since Donnie got all humafied I barely see him! He goes to school, then he comes home, and then he goes to his lab! It's only been like, three days and I feel like I haven't seen him in weeks!"  
"Well, your brother has been put in a very unusual situation, Michelangelo." Splinter told him. "Have you ever thought that perhaps your brother is undergoing a lot of stress with this change?"   
"Why would he be going through stress?"  
"Your brother is suddenly human; suddenly different from the rest of his family. This is something even stranger than anything we have gone through together and it happened to your brother alone. He might think that he is going through this on his own, and perhaps he has realized that this might put a strain on his relationships with the rest of you. Perhaps, Michelangelo, he is afraid."  
"He doesn't seem very afraid. He looks like he's having a bunch of fun with his new human friends." Mikey pouted.  
"And Raphael is not? He is out with Casey now, is Casey not human?"  
"Yeah, but, but, it's different!" Mikey shouted. "I don't know why you’re making it all complicated when you know what I'm talking about!"  
"Because, you should not be talking to me. You should be talking to your brother."  
Mikey sighed, slumping back against the couch, and tossed the remote to the side. "He's probably busy or something." He said, then shook his head. "I'll go bother Leo. Later Sensei." He jumped up from the couch, his emotions doing a complete 180 as he headed off for his oldest brother.  
Splinter let out a sigh of his own, worried for his youngest child. As well as the other three.  
\--  
The youngest turtle doubled back from the dojo once Splinter left the room for the kitchen. He crept towards the lab, opening the door as silently as he could and looked in.  
Donnie sat over his desk, writing in one of the notebooks Mikey could never make sense of. He looked back into his microscope before giving a frustrated sigh.  
Mikey debated on leaving when Donnie got up to wash away the contents of the slide but the thought came too late as Donnie turned back around and saw him peeking in.  
“Mikey, what are you doing?” He asked, a surprised look on his face.  
“Um,” Mikey started, putting on a big grin. “I was just gonna ask you if you wanted to play some video games or something?”  
Donnie frowned and it made Mikey’s smile falter. “I’d love to, Mikey, but I’ve got a lot of work to do.”  
Mikey’s smile dropped completely. He had time for a football game but not to play video games with his brother? He tried to keep his anger out of his voice.  
“But Donnie! I’m so bored! And Raph and Leo are both busy!”  
“I’m sorry, Mikey, but I’m busy too.”  
Mikey frowned, “Whatever, then.” He said, then walked back into the living room, shutting the lab door behind him.  
\--  
Donnie sighed, dropping his equipment onto his desk. He leaned back in his chair, running his hands through his hair exasperatedly. He had done multiple tests to get any where’s near reversing the second mutation, but they had all been failures. It seemed that this problem was going to be as difficult, if not more so, as the normal retro-mutagen.  
At least he knew where to start with that.  
He picked up a pencil and one of his notebooks, looking over his notes. Nothing about this mutation seemed right.  
It seemed highly improbable that he would have come out of the mutagen with such a clean mutation. Whether April had been in there with him or not. It would have been a much more probable result if he had come out of it looking even slightly like a turtle, or at the very least having some sort of green pigmentation to his skin, anything, really. But he came out looking like your average teenage boy, if not with an unusual colour of eyes, but they were odd even as a turtle.  
Unless, or course, it wasn't pure mutagen he had fallen into. Maybe Stockman had done something to it. Perhaps, trying to create his own retro-mutagen, since he was a fly-man now. In this case, it seemed irrelevant to be testing anything on the mutagen he had. He would have to collect some from Stockman's lab.  
He threw his notebook back onto the table and twisted his chair around to face Timothy's frozen form. He tapped the pencil against his chin, deep in thought. "It'd be an easy enough mission, just sneaking in and getting a few samples if it was empty. Though, there was a higher chance that Stockman would be there. Which put a higher chance of Fishface, or Rahzar being there. It would probably be beneficial to have his brother's along with him, or at least one..."  
"If we go out on patrol tomorrow night I could just go then. That seems like the easiest route to go on. I'm sure they won't mind too much." He twisted his chair back around and tossed his pencil onto his desk.  
"I guess I could use a few hours of sleep anyways." He said, rubbing his eyes. He turned his head to check the clock on his computer. "Well, three hours will be fine, I'm sure."  
He patted Tim's container lightly on his way to the door. He flicked the lights off, and closed the door behind him.  
He crept across the lair to the bedroom hall, his wrappings muting the soft slapping that his bare feet would have given off. He peeked into Leo's room, glad to see his eldest brother still snoring softly, before moving across the hall and going into his room.  
Walking to his bed, he picked up the few books he had left on the floor on his way and set them on his night stand.  
He pulled his mask off, which he wore around the house as a comfort, ringing it around his bed post. He then set his phone on top of the books and all but fell into bed. 


	13. The One Where Donnie Sleeps In

Leo watched as Donnie grabbed his stuff and ran for the door, still pulling on one shoe. He had been surprised to say the least when Donnie had burst out of his bedroom five minutes ago, yelling about sleeping in.

When he hadn't been in the lab that morning Leo had just assumed that he had already left. He hadn't even thought to check his brother's actual bedroom. It seemed to get so little use as of late the endeavour seemed pointless.

He was even more surprised that Donnie had actually gone to bed without anyone telling him too. Usually, if he was working on something like he had been last night, it was a battle just to get him to leave the lab for a meal. Unless Splinter got involved, of course.

Splinter, of course, had been surprised as well. But he had jumped from his shock quick enough to put some tea in a thermos for his son before Donnie had run out the door.

Leo couldn't help but frown, knowing that his brother going to school was still a bad idea.

He looked towards Splinter, who raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, my son? Is something troubling you?" He asked.

"How can you think that Donnie going to school is a good idea?" He asked. "Not to question your judgment, but-"

"That is exactly what you are doing by asking your question," Splinter said.

"Okay, yeah, but tell me," Leo's frown deepened. "You must realize that this is a bad idea."

"Yes, I know that if anything comes from this, it will not be good." Splinter frowned. "But your brother, you know just as well as I, has dreamed of one day getting a formal education. I tried to teach him, I did, but I'm afraid that his ability to learn surpasses my ability to teach.

"When you brother brought up the idea of him going to school I wanted to tell him no. I wanted to keep telling him no through any excuses I found, send him to his room and send April and Casey away. I do not want him above ground in the day; it unnerves me to think of what could happen. But your brother brought up a well enough argument, and it had me thinking that this is the chance he has been waiting for. The more he tried to reason with me, the more I realized that how badly he wanted to go, and I couldn't take this chance away from him. As much as it pains me to allow him."

Leo looked down, his frown softening, "So, you know that this is going to end poorly?" He asked. "What do you think will happen?"

Splinter got up, taking his cup of tea with him. "Nothing too horrible, I'm sure. As he says, no one knows that it is him." He walked out the door, and in a voice Leo barely caught he continued. "No, I fear what will happen is that he will enjoy himself too much."

He continued out the door, and Leo's frown deepened again.

Donnie kicked his skateboard, trying to travel as fast as he could to get to school on time.

He hadn't meant to sleep in; he just hadn't set an alarm. Everyone else had thought he had gone to April's early when he wasn't in his lab that morning.

Maybe that was the one of many signs that he should be getting more sleep, but he waved it off. He was just glad that April had called him when he hadn't shown up at her house that morning.

Grabbing a street lamp he flung himself down the next road, manoeuvring through the people on their way to work easily. A smiled crossed his face as the school came into sight. He wouldn't be late at all.

He stopped going as fast when his phone rang, taking it out of his pocket and answering it.

"What's up, Mikey?"

"Dude, are we going patrolling tonight?"

"Yeah, definitely." Donnie smiled. "I actually wanted to stop by Baxter's lab." He told his younger brother, flipping his board around to avoid a group of teens, then continuing to ride it backwards.

"Why do you wanna go there?" Mikey questioned.

"Well, I think that Baxter did something to the mutagen I fell-" Donnie started but was cut off by a sudden impact. He flew off his board, landing hard on his stomach and forearms and letting out a low groan.

He held the phone back up to his ear and let out a pained noise. "I'm going to have to call you back, Mikey. Don't worry, I'm fine. See you tonight."

He hung his phone up and slipped it back into his pocket before getting up onto his hands and knees. He looked down at his scraped forearm while his other hand rubbed his chest.

He looked behind him to see what he had hit, realizing it was a kid from the school.

"Aw, man, I'm really sorry about that." He started, turning himself so that he was sitting on the pavement.

"Why don't you watch where you're going?!" He heard the teen shout, and looked up in time to see his skateboard flying towards his head.

"Whoa!" He shouted, raising his hands to stop it before realizing the boy wasn't really going to hit him. "What's your deal? I said I was sorry, it was an accident!"

Donnie stood up and reached for his skateboard. The larger teen held it away from him, before turning and breaking it over his knee.

"Hey! What's the matter with you!?" Donnie shouted, grabbing the pieces from him. "Do you even realize how long it took me to get that?" He shouted, trying to fit the pieces back together.

"Listen, you don't just run into someone like me and not face the consequences." Donnie glared up at the larger boy.

"I would have figured the consequences would be looking at you face. What? Was your mother a gorilla?" He asked, frowning at his skateboard. It had taken him and his brother's years to find everything they needed for four working skateboards. The parts weren't something something that ended up in the sewers regularly.

"Why you little-" He growled, grabbing Donnie by his shirt and reared his fist back. "Why don't I mess your face up a little?"

Donnie blinked, a bit surprised by the boy's forwardness, though hardly scared. Apparently, countless attacks from not only alien robots and ninjas but also his older brother had desensitized him to school yard bullies. "Please, don't try. Really, it would just be an inconvenience on your part."

"Donnie!" He heard a girl shout, and twisted his head to see April running towards the small group of students who had gathered in the front yard. "Put him down!" She shouted.

The boy dropped him and April ran over, glaring at the attacker.

"Pfft, have to a girl save you?" He laughed, a few of his friends chuckling as well.

"This girl could probably kick your ass." Donnie rolled his eyes and the larger boy frowned again. He threw his fist back and sent it flying towards Donnie's face.

All Donnie thought of as he sent his own hand up to catch the assaulting one was that he did  _not_  want to explain that bruise to his brothers.

He held the boy's fist in front of him, stopping it dead in its track using a simple trick the Master Splinter had taught him years ago. He stood there waiting for the boy to make another move before someone else was grabbing his arm, and he quickly turned. April stood behind him, a disapproving look on her face.

Donnie sighed, looking back at the boy who still seemed surprised that his punch was caught and let go.

"What's wrong with you?" April asked him, hitting him in the arm as they walked away.

Donnie held up the pieces. "He  _broke_ my skateboard because I  _accidentally ran into him._ " He said. "Humans are unbelievable. I don't understand how you deal with them on a regular basis."

"Aren't I a human?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"No."

"Oh, right." She said, scratching her head. "Well, I'm glad you're okay, and I'm glad you didn't really fight him."

"Yeah, well, it wouldn't exactly of been a fair fight, would it of been?" Donnie said, tossing his skateboard in a trashcan as they passed one.

Donnie leaned against the wall of the gym watching other kids run around with a basketball.

He felt more comfortable in this class now that he had his own clothing; the sweats that April had bought him. It was much better than the horribly baggy shorts and t-shirt they had forced him to wear.

He stood at the half point of the gym, a small line separating the two parts. There was a game on either side; girls on the right, boys on the left.

He supposed he should have been playing with the other boys, but he honestly just couldn't be bothered. Not like everyone else was exactly giving it their all, either.

He looked to the boys side where there were a few small groups conversing rather than playing. Then to the girl's side, where it was the same. Only a handful of students were actually playing the game.

He watched the girl's side, though more specifically, April, play. She was one of the ones actually making an attempt and seemed to be pretty good. Though her competition wasn't exactly top notch.

He smiled as she scored a basket, though he was momentarily distracted by the sound of giggling.

He moved his eyes over to a few girls chatting off to the side, and raised an eyebrow at the specific words  _'He's looking this way.'_ He was even more concerned with the followed sound of shushing. He looked behind him to see if there was another  _he_  they could be referring too. But every other boy seemed to be either focused on their own groups, or actually playing the game.

He turned back to the girls, and immediately wished to disappear. A thousand thoughts flashed through his already cluttered mind. Most of them along the lines of,  _'Why would they be talking about me?_ '

His thoughts were cut off by a whistle sounding and the class heading to the changing rooms.

He could feel his face heating up as he passed the group of girls on his way.

The group of teens stood in the pit, each putting on their gear for the night. Donnie was in the middle of pulling the black sweater he had borrowed from Casey over his head when April let out;

"Donnie got into a fight today."

"April!" Donnie shouted as he pulled his head through.

"You what?!" Leo questioned, turning to his younger brother.

"It wasn't a real fight, kind of." Donnie started. "I accidentally ran into some guy and he broke my skateboard and tried to punch me in the face." He shrugged, tying his mask around his eyes.

"Did you hit him?" Raph asked, Mikey smiling behind him.

"Raph!" Leo shouted.

"No, I didn't hit him!" Donnie shouted as well.

"You should have." Raph shrugged, tucking his sai away in his belt. "People don't push the Hamato's around; the Hamato's push them around. You should'a flattened the moron."

Donnie shook his head, pulling on his belt and shoulder strap. "I wasn't going to touch him. I defended myself, yeah, but I wasn't going to hurt a defenceless human."

"But you're a defenceless  _human_  now, too!" Raph argued, a bit of venom in his voice on the word 'human.'

"As much as you like to tease me about it, I am not defenceless, Raph." Donnie frowned, adding a brown shoulder bag to his person before finally tucking his weapon in place.

"But you look defenceless." Mikey offered.

"Yeah, with your big brown eyes and cute, curly hair." Casey teased, bunching his hands up under his chin and making his eyes wide.

"Oh, shut up, you idiots." He pushed Casey away as he ruffled his hair.

"That wasn't very nice of you, little brother." Raph mocked.

"I know that." He rolled his eyes. "And stop calling me little brother, small fry." Donnie stood to full high and poked down at Raph's chest.

Raph frowned as Casey and Mikey laughed at the new target.

"What would even put the idea into your mind that's you're the older one?" He asked, poking Donnie's own chest and causing him to slouch back.

Donnie straightened again, pointing his nose into the air snobbishly. "I have a certain air of maturity about me that you do not possess." He replied.

"Maturity?" Raph replied back in a highly irritated voice. "Last week I caught you licking the frosting off the Poptarts!"

Donnie froze, before turning back to thrown a rebuttal when April interrupted him;

"Are we going to go at any time tonight? I have a math test on Friday that I want to study for at some point." The red head pointing at the door.

"I agree, April, we should be going.  _Now_." Leo told them, shoving Donnie and Mikey in the same direction.


	14. The One That Finally Has Some Action

The group of teens jumped along the roofs, headed towards Baxter's lab. Even in the darkened area they stuck to the shadows. Donnie had his hood pulled forwards, keeping his face hidden in the darkness it cast.

"So, why are we going to the lab again? You were explaining it on the phone, but then you fell." Mikey snickered as he jumped off of a water tank, Casey joining in as Donnie sighed.

"We're going," He started the explanation with a glare towards his younger brother. "Because I think Baxter was experimenting on the mutagen April and I fell in. I think he was attempting to make his own retro-mutagen, but was failing at it. So, there was something different about it, and I want to find out what." Donnie told his brother. He was obviously annoyed at the constant teasing they had been dishing at him the entire journey there. He was really wishing that April had kept her mouth shut.

They travelled a little while further, in a silence that Donnie was thankful for. Eventually, they landed down on a roof that neighboured the familiar warehouse.

"Alright, well here we are. Are we going stealth or barging in?" April asked, crouching down onto the ledge of the roof across the alleyway.

"Let's do stealth. The last thing we need is a fight." Leo decided, jumping onto the roof and landing with both skill and silence.

Raph and Casey groaned but followed along with everyone else. Raph's landing was just as silent, though it lacked the same grace, whereas Casey just plopped next to him, hockey bag rattling.

"Is there no such thing as just a good for nothing bad guy thrashing?" Raph asked, ignoring the noise though Leo seemed annoyed by it. Casey only shrugged with a disappointing expression.

They looked through the windows and Leo gave the are a once over. "It looks empty, but still keep quiet." He gave Raph and Casey a pointed flare, before he opened the window. As soon as Donnie caught a glimpse of the room he gasped.

"It's gone!" He announced, rushing past Leo and jumping to the rafters and then to the floor. "It was damaged! It's all leaked away!" He examined the large crack down the side of the canister, before following a small trail leading to a drain in the floor.

"Why are you so disappointed? It's just a little mutagen." Raph said, jumping down behind him and examining the trail for himself.

"I told you! I need it!" Donnie shouted at him, turning to glare. "It's important!" He turned back to the canister. "Help me to the top."

Raph frowned but complied, lacing his fingers together and leaning down. Donnie ran towards him and Raph threw him up as his foot made contact.

Donnie sailed through the air with a shout of surprise. To halt his quick ascent he grabbed onto the rope April had been dangled from. His fingers slipped at first, but he quickly corrected his hold, and turned his head to glare down at his brother in red.

"What the heck, Raph!? I said help me to the top, not the moon!" Donnie shouted down at him, hanging onto the rope for dear life.

"In his defence you are a lot lighter now, bro." Mikey pointed out, Raph just rolling his eyes and going to look at something else in the room.

Donnie sighed, blowing the hair from his face and sliding down the rope. He swung himself back and forth, then jumped to the side of the canister.

"I think I can scavenge some from the bottom." He said, hopping down into canister, his shoes splashing some of the leftover mutagen.

"Just hurry up, Donnie." Leo told him, peering into the shadows.

Donnie pulled a canister from his bag and opened it, though nearly dropped it at the sound of Baxter's voice.

"Ah, turtle-zzzz, back to the zzzz-cene of the crime, are you?" He hissed, flying into the room.

"Baxton!" Leo shouted, getting into a defensive position with everyone else.

"It's BAXTER!" The fly mutant shouted and Leo gave a shrug.

"I was  _close_." He said before he jumped towards him, swinging his Katanas.

"Hurry up, Donnie!" Casey shouted in the former turtles's direction. He then quickly followed Raph's lead, the turtle swinging his sai at the fly-mutant.

Donnie quickly gathered as much as he could in a few quick scoops. He turned around, looking for a way out before turning to the hole in the glass.

It was too small for him to get through, but was an easy enough fix. He spun himself around, kicking his foot out and shattering a bigger hole in the glass.

"I got it, let's go!" He shouted, shoving the canister back in his bag and racing towards the doors.

The other's followed after him, Mikey reaching the doors first when they were thrown open in front of them.

"Not so fast." Rahzar told them, appearing in the door with several footbots.

"Oh for the love of-" Leo cried, stopping in his tracks.

The group all stood in a circle, weapons at the ready as they waited for their enemies to make the first move. It was barely a few moments when Rahzar pointed his bony finger at them.

"Footbots, attack!" He ordered, and the group sprang into action.

"We just had to come to the lab, didn't we." Mikey shouted, busting a footbot with his nunchakus before leaping at another one. "Booyakasha!"

"Yes, we did! I  _said_  it was important!" Donnie shouted back at his brother, swinging his staff up at Baxter.

"Oh yeah, half a canister of mutagen, I can see the list of uses now." Raph rolled his eyes.

"Guys, can we stop fighting and maybe focus on something else? Like not dying, for instance!" Leo shouted, slicing through the chest of a footbot.

Raph let out a shout as he was tossed at the wall of the lab by Rahzar, then let out a pained grunt as Casey followed soon behind, landing on him.

"Casey get off me!" Raph shouted as the hockey player tried to shake himself out of his daze.

"No, Mikey, no!" Raph yelled as a third body was thrown their way, breaking them straight through the already cracked wall. They all let out strangled groans as they tried to get off the ground.

Leo panted, jumping at Rahzar again before being thrown off.

"What? Did you expect to win? You didn't even bring your whole team." He laughed darkly, grabbing Donnie, who had been taking out a few footbots nearby, by the hood of his sweater, his hair along with it. "Who is this wimp, anyway? Don't tell me you've picked up another useless teenager."

"Put me  _down_!" Donnie yelled, kicking his feet up and kicking off of Rahzar's face, flipping from his grasp. He landed on the ground, clutching his head. "Ow… Hair hurts." He whimpered and April shot him a worried glance before returning to her assault on Baxter.

She twirled around the flyman, slicing at him with her tesson, jumping at him when he tried to get away.

Donnie rolled in between Rahzar's legs as Leo hit him high.

"You know, there are a lot of robot ninja's out here!" Casey shouted from out in the street as he, Raph and Mikey faced robot after robot.

"We've kind of got our own problems!" April shouted back.

Donnie looked over at April, worried by the distress in her voice, but figured out soon that it was a mistake as he was suddenly flying through the air. He braced himself, curling into a ball, before crashing through one of the windows. Luckily, the way he had been clutching his staff at sent it through first, allowing it to weaken the glass for an easier hit.

"Donnie!" He heard Mikey shout as he got back up, using his staff as a crutch, and was immediately surrounded by footbots.

Letting out a low groan he crouched into position before flying at the enemies. He twisted his staff around in his head, sending it towards the heads of the robots and knocking them off after landing a few hits.


	15. The One With the Bang

Donnie, Raph, Mikey and Casey stood against the multiple footbots jumping around the alleyway. They fought hard and were seeming to make a considerable gap in their numbers.

A slight distraction did come in the form of Leo flying out into the alley, April following closely after. Donnie managed to look away from his fight long enough to see that they had been thrown through the open doors rather than a wall or window. He also saw that April had landed safely on his brother, to cushion her fall, and that Leo had gotten up quick enough to dub fine.

"You okay, guys?" Donnie called out from his fight, just to make sure.

Leo nodded, calling back. "Yeah, I'm good. Well, you know, ish.." He turned around and helped April up. "You good, April?" He asked.

"Oh, everything hurts." She said, getting up and cracking her back. "I need to get some kind of armour."

With April back on her feet and Rahzar apparently distracted with something in the lab, Leo looked back to see how his brothers were doing. They all seemed fine, and he was about to turn back and ready himself for Rahzar, before something else caught his eye.

"Donnie, Casey! Security camera!" He shouted, pointing to the building next to the lab.

Casey and Donnie both looked up, the security camera pointed directly at them, the small light on the side flashing green to indicate it was active.

"Got it!" Casey shouted, running to Donnie and grabbing his staff.

Donnie in return swung it as hard as he could, sending Casey flying at the security camera. Casey swung at it with his bat, and it was smashed to pieces.

Leo sighed in relief before cringing at a scraping sound. Every teen in the group stiffened slightly, shivers running up their spines.

Rahzar stepped out of the building, dragging his claws against the ground. "Baxter's flown away, but don't worry kiddies, play time's not over yet." He let out, giving another low chuckle.

Raph stabbed his sai through another footbot before turning back to Rahzar. "Play time? I'll show you play time!" He screamed, running forwards and springing himself at the mutant dog.

Mikey jumped soon after, weapons flying as he let the chain of his kusarigama wrap around the enemy. He landed on the ground, pulling him down with him. It didn't keep him down for long, however, and Mikey was soon flung off the end of the chain and into the ground.

Meanwhile, Donnie and Casey stood back to back, weapons flying around them.

"So, Donnie, any bright plans to get us out of this one?" Casey yelled, batting the head of a footbot off.

"Why?" Donnie asked, "Getting tired?"

"No." Casey shot back, "I'm just saying, it is your fault we're here, an'everything."

Donnie considered the words before shrugging. "I have some mild explosives in my bag, but I haven't actually thought of a plan that would use them effectively." He admitted, knocking a robot away with his staff.

"Why do you have explosives on you?" Casey exclaimed as he dodged out of the way of a sword.

"I was bringing a bag anyways, so I brought a few things. Also a new invention I've been kind of dying to use." He smiled mischievously.

"Well, hurry up and think of what to do with them, because we're kind of getting our butts kicked here." Casey reminded him.

"Think you can handle this group on your own?" Donnie asked.

"Obviously."

"Good. Going up, then." Donnie flipped backwards, his hands landing on Casey's shoulder with little warning. The older boy bent his knees from the force but held up as he pushed back up to standing straight. Donnie used the further momentum to spring him onto the fire escape above them.

He immediately dropped to his knees, ripping his bag open.

"Alright, a good plan, a good plan..." He chewed his lip for a moment before smiling. "Got it." He rummaged through his bag before bringing out a small remote first. "Come and get us, Shellraiser." He pressed the button at the bottom of the remote and smiled before grabbing the bag and jumping back to the ground.

He ran to Leo. "Get Rahzar back through the doors and get them closed, I have a plan."

Leo nodded, not needing any more information. He ran towards Rahzar and kicked him back towards the doors. Raph, Mikey and April joined into the slow going battle without dispute.

"Alright, we just wait for them and then-" Donnie let out a shout of surprise as he was flung to the ground holding his side painfully. His hood fell from his head as he turned over and rolled out of the way of a footbot. He jumped back up, getting his staff out and twirling it around his fingers.

He fought off the three footbots, getting two down before swinging his staff at the head of the third. The head flew off on impact, but then so did one half of his weapon.

"Are you kidding me?!" He yelled, but his anger was stopped short with a shout from his oldest brother..

"Donnie, now what!?"

Donnie turned to see the door shut and two turtles holding it closed as the third brother fought off the footbots. He tossed his broken staff to the ground before running over and grabbing a metal bar from a pile of warehouse debree. He stuck it through the door handles, jumping back as Rahzar tried to smash his way through.

Getting back to work he took the string of explosives out of his bag and wrapped them through the door handles under the pipe before connecting them together. "There, the moment he breaks through these doors the wire breaks and the explosives go off." He gave a short explination and his brothers nodded.

He paused as he heard a beeping from his bag and turned. "Everyone to the walls!" He shouted, grabbing Mikey and April and dragging them over, the rest doing as instructed.

Just as they moved out of the way, the Shellraiser came speeding down the alley wall. It smashed through many of the footbots, who lacked the human logic to move out of its way, and stopped in front of him.

"Alright, pile on!" He shouted, jumping to his seat.

"Where did this come from?!" Leo asked as they climbed in to see it completely empty.

"Remote controlled GPS locator. Press this button and the Shellraiser comes to you. Just a little thing I've been working on." Donnie told them, going to his seat.

"That's wicked!" Mikey grinned, grabbing his own seat.

"Alright everyone; hang on." Leo smiled, stepping on the gas.

They drove down the street as fast as the vehicle would go but it wasn't fast enough as they heard footsteps on the roof.

"Donnie, take the wheel." Leo called, jumping from his seat and going to the door on the roof.

Leo jumped up and Raph followed, fighting off the footbots as best as they could. Mikey took the seat at the weapons and began firing them.  
"Are they crazy?!" April screamed. "They're going to fall off!"

Donnie looked at the monitors, jumping as he heard an explosion in the far distance. Moments later the sound of police sirens rang through the air.

"Look like Rahzar got the door open." Casey laughed.

"Oh yeah!" Mikey shouted.

Donnie smiled as well, turning down an alleyway and gasping.

"There's a block at the end of this alley!" He shouted, looking at the rear monitors. It wasn't hard to see that he couldn't turn around or reverse without being overtaken by footbots.

"Guys, get Leo and Raph in here now!" He shouted, stomping on the gas.

"Donnie what are you doing?!" April shouted.

"I said  _now_!" He shouted again and Mikey opened the hatch pulling Raph inside, Leo following.

"You can't be serious, Donnie!" April shouted as he pushed the subway car forwards, speeding it up. "Oh, God, you're serious! Everyone hang on!" She screamed, and they all grabbed a hold of something.

Donnie pushed forwards once more before crashing straight through the block. He then turned down the road, throwing each passenger to the wall and continuing to speed away.

The Shellraisor groaned to a stop in front of the lair doors. Itts own door slid open, letting all six teens practically fall out. They were all groaning, holding various parts of their bodies as they did so.

"Well, I guess we figured out why  _you_  don't drive." Mikey grumbled, rubbing his arm tenderly.

Donnie looked indignantly at his brother, crossing his arms. "I did what had to be done. Plus it's my car, I can do whatever I want with it." He said before walking inside.

Casey put his arms around Leo's shoulders, a smirk on his face. "I'm guessing that's the last time you're ever gonna say 'Donnie, take the wheel' for a while, huh." He joked.

Leo narrowed his eyes. "Until like, the end of forever." He clarified, before following his younger brothers into the lair.

"So, I really hope you got all you needed, Donnie, because we are not doing that again." Leo continued as they all got to the pit.

"I hope it's enough." Donnie sighed, rubbing his side tenderly before fishing the half-filled canister out of his bag. "It's not like there's any to go back for." He frowned and turned away. "I'll be in the lab."

"I'm going home then, now. Night guys." April said, stretching her arms out. "See you in the morning, Donnie!" She called.

"Night, April. Night, Casey." Leo called after them as their human friends left.

 


	16. The One With the Video Clip

Leaving the lab early that morning, Donatello readied himself for the day. His shower was not nearly as hot as he would have liked, but the cold water kept him awake, and kept his brain going.

He thought over what he had learnt through the few experiments he had done with Baxter's mutagen. It had been tampered with, just as he had thought. But some of the chemicals he found in it made absolutely no sense. It was proving his other theory correct as well:

Baxter wasn't a genius; just a lucky idiot.

He would have to do much more testing if he wanted to figure out exactly what happened to him, then he could start figuring out how to turn himself back. The only problem was that he had so little to work with. He would have to be selective with the experiments he id.

He switched the water off and hurried to get dress and comb his hair into place before going for breakfast. He was surprised to see Raph already in the kitchen, since he always made it a point to stay in bed as long as he could. He shrugged it off.

"'Morning, Raph." Donnie greeted, and Raph only continued eating in silence. At first, Donnie didn't pay this any mind. It wasn't entirely unusual for Raph to be in a bad mood early in the morning, especially if something had woken him up this early. So rather than commenting on it, Donnie continued further into the kitchen, making his coffee as quickly as the machine would brew it and sat down.

"So, what's got you up so early?" Donnie asked, trying to make light conversation before he had to leave, but Raph only shoved the last spoonful of cereal into his mouth and got up.

"Are you alright, Raph?" Donnie tried again, quirking a brow at his brother's not completely unusual, but rather uncalled for behaviour.

Raph only put his dishes in the sink and made to walk away, though not before throwing a comment. "Don't you have school to get to or somethin'." Then he continued out the door, leaving Donnie sitting at the table with a confused expression on his face.

Donnie walked behind April into the school, running a hand through his still mildly damp hair as it fell into his face. He continued down the hall, looking to the side when he heard a few giggles and gave a deep blush when he saw a group of girls immediately turn from looking at him. He felt his cheeks heat up slightly, and was sure they were bright red by that point.

He quickly looked back forwards, his head turned slightly down and his hair falling over his face. He rushed to catch up to April, to walk besides her instead of behind.

Donnie still looked uncomfortable as they got to April's locker, but tried to shake it off. After the hour long English period, Donnie and April made their way to the gym, then towards the cafeteria.

Casey had apparently decided that gym wasn't worth his time that day, but stood against the wall rubbing his neck as April and Donnie entered the lunch room.

He glared at Donnie, who looked at him confused. "You okay, Casey?" He asked.

"I hope you never drive ever again, as long as you live." Casey scowled at him.

"Oh please, it wasn't that bad." Donnie rolled his eyes.

"You crashed it through a wall!" Casey shouted, ignoring the wondering eyes of other students. "My neck is so messed up!"

"We all lived." Donnie replied. "The Foot probably would have done much worse."

"Barely!" Casey declared, ignoring Donnie's second point as April rejoined the group, Irma following beside her. "I should drive next time Leo can't."

"You will never drive my car." Donnie told him, crossing his arms over his chest.

Irma held a finger up. "Wait, I thought you said you couldn't drive?"

Casey snorted, "He can't."

"I can drive better than you!" Donnie replied.

"He's not wrong." April smirked in Casey's direction and Donnie smiled triumphantly.

"What are you talking about? I'm a great driver!" Casey told them, "And I definately don't go crashing through walls."

"That wasn't exactly my plan,  _Casey,_  but there was no way around it." Donnie frowned and Casey just huffed, continuing to rub his neck.

"Do I even want to ask?" Irma questioned.

April shook her head, leading Irma away."Probably not."

After break Donnie followed April to another Biology class full of things he had learnt years before.

Most of the day Donnie kept his thought on his work. The day wasn't overly interesting until April's journalism class.

The teacher, an older man by the name of Mr. Lutts, stood at the front of the room, a news site up on the screen.

"Alright, class, we're going to continue our unit on TV Journalism. We're going to start by watching an interesting news clip from earlier today." He turned to his computer, starting the video.

"A mysterious explosion last night leaves police and fire fighters baffled." The reporter started. He was standing in front of a trashed alleyway with police officers investigating the scene. "At around 10:00 last night a call was made over the sound of an explosion in a small factory area. When officers arrived on the scene they were blown away at the amount of destruction. All that was found of any distinctive evidence were these, what seems to be a robotic arm and the remains of some sort of high tech explosives. The explosives appear to be of military expertise I heard from the police."

The camera moved to look at a couple of officers holding up the remains of Donnie's bo staff. They turned it over in their hands and clicked the apparently still working button that produced the blade, nearly stabbing himself in the face.

The camera moved back. "However, this footage was pulled off of the security camera from the building adjacent to the scene of the crime. The camera itself was destoryed but the video was savedon a factory computer." Donnie and April both paled as the video began playing, at first just being a black and white shot of the ground, before something flew past it. Suddenly two people flew into view, with multiple people dressed in black chasing after them.

They fought off the people in black for a few moments before both turned to look at the camera. One with a hood pulled over his head and a mask tied around his eyes and the other in a hockey mask. After a second of looking at it the one in the hockey mask ran at the other, grabbing the long stick he held. In return the other sent him flying at the security camera. The last thing on screen was a picture of the masked man swinging a bat at the camera.

"Police are currently taking any calls with information about the fight, or either of these people." The last picture of Casey, as well as a more gravely picture of Donnie showed on the screen. "With channel 6 news I'm Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe." He signed off and the video ended.

The teacher began his lesson of the day, though neither teen were really paying attention as they turned to look at each other. April had her eyebrows raised in question to Donnie, who in reply shrugged, though his eyes looked a little wider than usual.

When the class ended they walked out together, Donnie gave a shrug again. "I don't think I really  _need_  to tell Splinter. I mean, you can't tell it was one of us unless you know who we are already since we're wearing the masks and all. Plus I mean, it was dark, and black and white, and blurry. Last time it happened it was high def."

"Last time?" April questioned.

"We never told you about that?" He asked and April shook her head. "Oh, some jerk took a video of us, Raph got mad, the jerk mutated into a giant spider, it was a whole thing. But it's really not a big deal this time because my brother's weren't in the video and you can't even see mine or Casey's face."

"And if he sees it on his own?" She asked.

"Splinter hardly watches TV. He thinks it's a useless time waster." Donnie shrugged.

"We should at least tell Casey, I think."

"That's obviously their obnoxious friend, Casey Jones, so, that must be their latest pet human. Now we know that he not only knows the turtles and knows where their lair is, he's also fighting with them, and seems to have at least a fair bit of skill." Karai spoke to the few robots behind her, watching the new video from that morning.

She turned to the robots fully, "Surely, though, he wouldn't be able to take on a full onslaught. We'll have to wait until he's alone, though. I don't want the turtles interrupting until I'm finished, and I don't want April or Casey running off to them immediately." She grabbed her blade from a nearby table, putting it into her holster.

"Go!" She told them, and they were off.


	17. The One With the Date

April and Donnie walked into the cafeteria together after their fourth class. Casey and Irma no where's in sight, so April went and got some food, and Donnie sat down at the table. He has brought his own lunch; a few slices of pizza from the night before.

He was about to take the first bite when he heard someone approach him. Looking up and turning his bangs out of the way, he saw a girl, one of the ones from that morning. The thought sent his cheeks going red again.

"Um, hi," she started, and Donnie sat up straighter. At his movement she held the books she was carrying closer to her chest. "I'm Melody."

"Oh, um, I'm Donnie. Nice to meet you." He gave her a small smile, wishing that April would hurry back.

"Yeah, I know, you're in my English class." She smiled back, her own cheeks going red. "Um, I was wondering if maybe you would want to go out with me on Friday. To a movie, or for dinner or something.." She looked down slightly, her short, blond hair covering half of her face. Donnie deducted she was trying to covered her reddened cheeks, though she was failing at it horribly. Either she was shy, or embarrassed to be asking him He wasn't sure which he would prefer.

Donnie's eyebrows furrowed and his head tilted. "A date?" He asked. "Why- Why would you want to go on a date with me?" It didn't make sense to him, she didn't even know him.

"Oh, well, um, you just seemed really nice and smart, so I thought..." She said, and Donnie decided she was probably more shy than embarrassed.

"Um, well, that's really nice of you, but I'm busy on Friday." He told her, then saw the look of disappointment on her face. "But, we could do something tonight, if you want.." He added quickly afterwards, hating to be the reason someone looked that sad.

She smiled brightly and Donnie tried to return it, though it came out looking halfhearted. She quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper from one of the books in her arm and handed it to him. He recognized it as a phone number once he read it. "Call me after school and we can meet up or something." She told him, then spun around, her skirt and hair swishing behind her as she walked back to her table. He kept watching as she sat down and the girls started giggling happily. Donnie felt his cheeks flush more than they had ever before, he was sure.

"What was that about?" April asked, watching the girl and her firends away as she sat down with her lunch.

"I um, I guess I have a date tonight?" He said, staring down at the number, his eyebrow raised in a confused manner.

"You what?" April questioned, looking over at him.

"Um, she came over and asked if I wanted to go out with her tomorrow. I said I was busy and she looked disappointed, so I offered up tonight.." He said.

April raised an eyebrow at him, then looked in the direction the girl went off in, frowning ever-so-slightly.

Her staring was interrupted as Casey came in, sitting down and taking a slice of Donnie's pizza, ignoring the upset 'Hey' he got from him.

"So, how was Journalism?" Casey asked, a smirk on his face.

April and Donnie exchanged looks, the topic of the girl forgotten for the moment. "Why?" April asked.

"Well, I was talking to Marcus and he was talking about the video clip they showed in that class. About the rad vigilante in the Hockey Mask and the hooded kid in the definitely-not-as-cool mask around his eyes." Casey smiled a gaped smile before taking a bite of the pizza.

"My mask is fine, shut up." Donnie frowned.

"Dude, it's purple." Casey told him.

"What's wrong with purple?"

"It's a girl colour."

Donnie frowned in confusion, his nose scrunching as he tilting his head. "What the heck's a girl colour?"

Both human's raised their eyebrows at him. "A girl colour? Like, a colour for a girl? Like pink and purple. They're feminine colours."

"That's dumb, why do girls get their own colours?" Donnie asked.

"Boy's got red and blue and green."

"That's like, the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Donnie told him, pulling at the collar of his own purple shirt and giving Casey a dead-panned look when the vigilante realized what he was wearing.

"I mean, you work it and stuff, it's just how humans do things." Casey said, and Donnie rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, what did Marcus say?" April asked.

"He asked me about it because I have that same mask and it looked kinda like my hair," Casey rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I told him it was probably the same mask since it's not exactly a one of a kind thing."

"You're going to have to be more careful." Donnie told him. "Keep a constant look out for cameras."

"You were on it too." Casey reminded him.

"Yeah, but no one recognized me." Donnie told him, starting his lunch.

* * *

For the rest of the day Donnie noticed April was in something of a foul mood, hardly speaking to him. By the end of Japanese, as they were walking out to leave the school he finally brought it up.

"Is something wrong, April?" Donnie asked, moving slightly sideways to look at her face as they walked.

"No." She answered, almost a little too fast. "I was just thinking," She started slowly, to counter her previous quick answer. "And I think it's a bad idea to go on your little date tonight."

"I know." He frowned, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

April looked up at him, still frowning. "Do you even think Splinter would allow you to go with a stranger?"

Donnie frowned. "No." He then gave a small shrug. "I really just didn't want to hurt her feelings," He confessed. "I don't think I could say no to her face.. but I was planning on calling to cancel.. Tell her something came up, or something.."

"It's probably for the better." April told him, nudging him with her hip slightly as they got to the end of the school yard. "I'm gonna go home before going to the lair. I'll see you at the lair in a little bit to help me study for my math test tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yeah, see you there in a bit." He smiled, then started digging through his bag for Melody's number.

He turned into an alley that he used as a shortcut and dialed her number. As he was about to press talk he stilled, the hair on the back of his neck standing up. It was, in it's own, a new feeling, but easily recognizable as a internally wired warning. He looked around, cancelling the call and waited.

Using all his senses as Master Splinter had taught him too, he was able to turn just as the first footbot hit the ground.

Immediately he grabbed for his staff, realizing a moment too late that he didn't have it on his back. The moment was all the bot needed as it surged forward in attack, several more joining it from behind. His phone was knocked from his hand as he dodged.

He blocked the bot's attacks, dodging and occasionally getting a well-placed kick on one of their heads. As he went to dodge another, he back flipped out of the way, using his time in the air to reach for the hidden staff under her pant leg.

He hit it out one way and the other to bring it to full size, which was still much smaller than his regular wooden staff. Disregarding his disadvantage, he lunged forwards, fighting back against the enemies.

It wasn't until he heard her voice did he stop;

"Finally, I got you alone. It seemed like this moment would never come."

"Karai." He turned to see her standing in front of him, poised and ready to attack if need be. She, in contrast, looked very relaxed. But she knew she had the advantage.

"So, you've heard of me?" She asked. That sparked a short moment of surprise before he remembered that she had no idea who he was.  
But the moment of surprise that he had was well taken advantage of, and the next thing he saw was her smirking face as a footbot hit him over the head and he crashed to the pavement. He kept his eyes open long enough for her to look at his phone, setting it back on the ground.

"We'll just leave this for them to find." She told him, kicking his staff to join it before his eyes went dark.


	18. The One Where He's Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, this is where the sensitive subjects come in. There are descriptions of torture, as well as mention of blood and of physical harm, so if that's not your forte, you can skip Donnie and Karai's scene (it's the second part of the chapter).

April walked into the lab, throwing her bag onto the couch and then joining it, sitting next to Mikey.

"Hey guys," she smiled at the oldest and youngest of the family.

"Hey, April. How was school?" Mikey asked, turning away from the TV, Leo looking over as well from his end of the couch.

"Boring, kind of weird, the usual. How was your day?" She asked.

Mikey huffed through his nose. "Boring. Leo meditated all day." He looked pointedly at his other brother who shrugged in response, "and Raph's being really boring. All he wanted to do was read comics and nearly beat the shell off me when I tried to get him to do something else."

"Well, where's Donnie? Shouldn't he have been home, like, a half hour ago?"

Leo furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and Mikey looked around April to see the lab door still firmly shut.

"Didn't he come in with you?" Leo asked, getting up and going to actually look in the lab in case he had snuck by them.

"No, I went home first and he came here." April told them.

"Well, maybe he stopped someplace to get some food or something." Leo suggested, but he pulled out his phone as he said the words, the action pretty much cancelling them out.

"He didn't have any money." April told him, and he started dialing before the sentence was finished.

Mikey made a noise and they turned to look at him. "He'll probably never come home." He said in such an un-Mikey way that it caught April off guard.

"What do you mean, Mikey?" She asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. She heard Leo hang up the phone behind her and then try again immediately. "His phone probably just died, and he's on his way home right now. And if he got in a fight or something, he's tough enough to hold his own, or at least smart enough to call if he needs help."

"It's not that, April. I know Donnie can hold himself and he would call if he needed help, but what if he doesn't need help, and he's just not coming home? What if he ran away from us?" Mikey asked, his eyes sad as he expressed the feelings he had been holding in the entire week.

"What- What do you mean? Why would Donnie run away?" She asked, and looked over to Leo, who hung up the phone again once he got Donnie's voicemail.

Leo cleared his throat. "What he means is- Well he means that Donnie's a flight risk... Always has been. It's one of the things he has in common with Raph." Leo started, running a hand over his head. "Donnie and Raph, well, they know that they could do better if they could just escape the sewers. The thing that was holding Raph back was the need to protect us, not to mention not having a lot of other options. What was holding Donnie back was, well..."

"Being a mutant." April finished for him.

"Donnie's like, really smart, and he could help a lot of people if they would accept him topside, but they won't. I know he always says he loves being a turtle around you and Casey and everything, but he doesn't. He hates it. He loves us, obviously, but he's not happy. I don't think he's been since he was little. And now he's not..." Mikey trailed off.

"You think that he might just disappear now that's he's human.." April finished again, and the boys nodded.

"Yeah.." Mikey shrugged, looking like a rejected puppy at the thought of his brother just disappearing on him.

"He was always smarter than us.. He caught onto the fact that we would never really amount to anything outside of ninjutsu when he was young. It kind of stung him, because he was the weakest fighter but better at almost everything else. The feeling of not really fitting in has been building for a while."

"And now he's missing." Mikey finished, looking towards the door. "And we wouldn't even know where to look."

"Look, there's a high chance that we're just over-reacting and he'll be home soon. Who knows, maybe he's thinking about running but I don't think he'd ever really go through with it. He'll show up in an hour full of smiles and lies about running off somewhere and loosing track of time, and it'll be fine." Leo said to assure his brother, though April thought it looked a lot like he was reassuring himself.

"And if he doesn't?" Mikey asked, April turning to Leo as well.

"If he's not back by sunset, then we'll go look for him. Easy as that."

"Look where?"

" _Everywhere's._ "

Donatello came to consciousness sometime after his ambush. He almost immediately regretting it as his head started pounding along with his arms, wrists and ankles. He tried to move to see what had happened to him, but noticed he couldn't move more than an inch from the wall he appeared to be hanging off of.

He gave his fair share of trying though, pushing himself away from the wall with his head and hips. He could already feel the bite of the chains as they dug into his skin.

Then his senses started kicking back in and heard the whirring of machinery. He strained his eyes to get used to the dark room quicker, squeezing them tihgtly every once in a while to try and clear them.

The blurriness in his vision finally faded and he spotted several footbots hiding in the shadows. Their glowing read eyes staring at him.

He tried to shrink into the wall, his heartbeat quickening. His eyes started darting around the room for anyway he could escape.

As he observed his prison, he heard something opening and watched Karai walk in through a metal door. Her weapon was sheathed, and she wore a devilish smirk on her face.

"Look who's finally awake. I was afraid you'd sleep the whole night away." She let out in her usual condescending voice. He glared at her, trying not to speak a word in case his voice failed him, or worse, she recognized it.

The last thing he needed was her knowing that she had one of the accursed turtles strung up onto her wall. She'd probably call up the Shredder and a couple dozen guards if it came to it. Though by now she must have at least know he was connected to them. He should have stayed in the sewers, or jumped on a bus while he had the chance.

She kept walking closer to him until she was able to reach out and hold his cheek forwards. "Okay, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. And let me tell you, am I ever a fan of the hard way." He rolled his eyes at the cheesy line. If she ever stopped trying to kill them, her and Raph would gt along fantastically. "It's as easy as this; Tell me what I want to know, and you'll be let go."

"All I want to know, is where I can find the turtles and their master." She asked him, and he glared in response.

"I know you know the answer, I've seen you around them all week. So I'll give you one more chance. Where is their hideout?" She asked, letting go of his face.

Donnie cleared his throat before speaking in a lower voice than his normal one. "Bite me." He growled.

"Alright, I guess we're doing this the hard way." She told, and without him being able to do anything but hang there, she lifted her arm and brought it down hard on his collar bone. A surprised and pained shout came from him without his consent, and he cursed himself for it.

"Ready to talk?" She asked, and he returned to glaring as he felt the ache starting of what was sure to be an awful bruise. When he didn't respond, she frowned "Alright, then let's continue."

And it continued that way for a while. She would ask a question, he would refuse to speak a word, and she would preform some kind of bodily harm. None of it was too bad, nothing he wouldn't get out of training, until she unsheathed her sword.

Small cuts at first, here and there, until she started to get annoyed at his silence. A deep cut was added to his jaw, running down from about the middle of his cheek. Then, her frustration finally got the better of her. She lashed out and Donnie let out a gasp of pain as a deep cut was sliced into his forearm.

He could feel blood start dripping down his arm, covering both himself and leaking into his shirt.

He opened his eyes, peaking through the small cracks and through his blurry vision to see her looking at his arm with wide eyes. He made a quick assessment of her expression, and stance, holding her sword slightly away from both him and herself. He figured she hadn't meant to let it get carried away like that. She hadn't meant to do anything all to damaging, small cuts and bruises.

She stepped back, noticing his eyes on her and hardened her expression.

"Fine," She said, her voice holding no emotion. "If you're not going to talk, then you can at least be used as bait. Your friends will notice you're missing soon enough, and they'll come looking for you."

She turned away from him and to her footbots, ignoring look of panic on his face. "Go out, find a turtle and lead them here. Do not engage them." She said.

Donnie made a quick assessment of what would happen when his brothers got here. He would be out of commission, he was doubtful that Leo would let April and Casey come in, and Karai had a warehouse full of footbots. It didn't spell out good for his brothers.

His panic must have shown through on his face because when Karai turned back she raised an eyebrow. "You didn't expect that I would just let you go if you didn't talk. If you won't give me answers then I need to get them from the turtles themselves, and right now, you're my only way to them. So sit here, sit pretty, and let them come to me."

"Please, Karai," Donnie said, his voice cracking. "You don't have to do this... You don't have to hurt them..."

Donnie's words turned Karai's expression into a scowl. "Oh, so you're ready to talk now?" She asked, holding her sword back up, though her eyes glitched momentarily to his arm. "We could start again."

Donnie might have replied to her, if his eyelids didn't finally drop and he gave in to unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catch up for anyone who didn't read the second part, Dondon's all messed up and Karai is feeling unintelligible emotions towards what she did. Snap.
> 
> Originally I wasn't going to describe anything they did, but I wanted to kind of show some of what Karai was feeling because it's important later.


	19. The One With the Rescue

It was nearing sunset when Leo had told them they were leaving. He had already grown too worried about Donnie's whereabouts to wait any longer.

The brothers kept to the roofs and the shadows, the city below them more busy with the sun still above them. They were far more cautious than usual, having more than enough to deal with, and didn't need to add getting spotted to their list.

Casey and April followed along on the street. Casey's mask tucked away as to not draw attention, though he still had all his gear strung to his back. April kept her fan at the ready.

Raph had brought up the fact that Mikey knew how to track phones, and they were currently closing in on Donnie's signal. As they rounded another corner into a dark alleyway the brothers jumped down next to their human friends.

"Guys, I don't see why you're so worried. Don's a big boy, I'm sure he can take care of himself." Casey told them, then noticed they weren't moving. "Why are we stopped?"

"This is where the signal is coming from." Leo told him, holding his phone up t see if he needed a better signal, before dropping it back down. His eyes scanned over the alley way, unsure and a bit confused.

Mikey moved further down, rubbing his hand along the wall until his toe hit something. He looked towards the ground and his stomach dropped.

"Guys," He gave a small wine, bending down to pick up the T-Phone that laid next to the familiar metal staff he had nudged. His other hand grabbing the broken staff.

"Okay, I'm a little worried now.." Casey said awkwardly.

"I knew we should have left earlier." Raph growled, walking over and taking the pieces out of Mikey's hand. "Why did you wait so long to tell me?!" He demanded, pointing one of the ends at Leo.

"Raph, this isn't the time to yell at me." Leo shouted back, though the guilt was clearly visible on his face. "Right now we need to go find him."

He turned to the other three, and pointed away. "Search the city, Casey, April, you take the streets, Raph and I will take the roofs, Mikey you take the alleys. Search for the Foot, search for the Kraang, search for anything that looks suspicious! But do not attack them. Follow them, see where they lead. Keep in constant contact, and do not," he turned to Raph and narrowed his eyes, "go in anywhere's alone. This isn't about revenge, this is about finding Donnie and getting him out safely. We need to work as a team to do that. If you find something  _call me_."

He and Raph kept eye contact for a few tense seconds after that before Raph nodded sharply, and started climbing to the roofs.

Leo turned back to the other three, "Be safe." He said before jumping to the roofs in pursuit of his younger brother.

Leo ran for over half an hour before he found a single Footbot. Mikey had found one earlier but ended up destroying it after he was spotted.

He crept slowly behind it, staying far enough away so that it wouldn't sense him. He followed it for 10 minutes before it led him to an old warehouse just a few blocks away from Murakami's.

He took out his T-Phone and quickly sent a mass message to the other 4, giving them directions to his location. It was 20 minutes before everyone was gathered together on the roof of the place. Leo was looking in through the skylight of the building to the dark room below them.

When he saw everyone gathered he jumped back to the roof of the building next to it.

"Are you sure it's here?" Raph asked, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

"Positive. I've seen three go in and exit since we got here. It's like a beehive." He said, then turned to the group. "Okay, Mikey, Raph, we're going to sneak in through the skylight. It's a predictable entrance, but the only one I've spotted besides the front doors. We'll go in on full stealth and survey the place from the shadows until we find him. We grab him, we get him, no noise, no fighting." He said, and even Raph agreed.

"What do we do, Leo?" April asked.

"You and Casey stay on this roof, quiet and hidden from sight." He told them and April was about to fight back when he cut her off.

"Listen, I am all for you guys helping us whenever you can, really, the more the merrier, but our brother is in there. So right now we need complete stealth, something we've been trained in since we were toddlers. If you hear fighting, then by all means, run in guns a blazing, but until then please, please, wait out here. I don't want to fight, I don't want to risk anything, I just want to get in and get out with Donnie."

He and his brothers jumped back onto the other roof, Leo taking out a Tanto blade and sliding it between the windows. The lock popped open and the teens jumped down onto one of the rafters.

Casey looked at April, "You gonna follow them?" He asked, and April looked unsure before shaking her head.

"No. Come on." She said, leading him down onto a lower level of roof, tucked out of sight.

The brother's stood in the shadows near the ceiling, jumping from one beam to the next while searching the large room. A they ran out of supportable beams they dropped to the ground. Leo held his hand out, signalling them to stay near the wall.

A they moved across the room, Mikey almost called out, but quickly held his tongue. Instead he grabbed his eldest brother's arm and pointed across the room.

Leo's eyes widened when he saw, chained up to the metal wall was a small figure, their head hanging down limply over their chest.

Raph looked over next and his breathing stopped. He went to run over, but Leo held him back, putting a finger to his mouth and Raph scowled but nodded.

Going as quietly as they could, the three mutants crossed the room. It was obvious once they were near him that it was their brother. It was also evident that he had gone through a lot by the size of the bruises and cuts all over him.

Most alarming was the cut on his arm that seemed to have let out a lot of blood. All of which had run down his arm and soaked the clothing on his side.

"What did they do to him?" Raph whispered in an angry tone, and Leo slowly reached his hand forwards. He set it gently on the side of Donnie's face, intending to lift it to see the damage done. But he immediately yanked it away when Donnie flinched harshly, making a small sound.

Mikey looked up at Leo, who had a look on his face that made it seem that Donnie's reaction to the touch physically pained him.

Shaking out of it, Leo unsheathed one of his katanas, and quickly brought it down four times to each of the chains holding Donnie up. Donnie slipped from the wall and Raph and Mikey quickly caught him. He let out another whimper of pain, before Leo took him into his own arms, cradling him.

"Don't worry, Otōto, it's almost over." Leo whispered to him as they went to leave.

"Otōto?" They heard behind them and all froze, Leo holding Donnie closely despite the sounds of pain it caused him to make. "He's one of you?"

Raph and Mikey took defensive positions, blocking Leo and Don from both sides. Raph has his sai out, ready to rip apart anything that got too close, and Mikey already had his nunchakus swinging.

Karai's face changed into an expression that could only be labeled as regret. "I thought he was just some human. He must be the smart one, but how did he manage this?" She asked but the brother's just glared at her, holding their weapons higher. "I see none of you are in the talking mood tonight."

Karai took a deep breath before turning away from the turtles and out a door.

"Oh no you don't!" Raph yelled, charging towards her, but a Footbot stopped him in his tracks.

"Raph come on, we have to get him home!" Leo called, setting Donnie down and grabbing one of his arms, ready to lift him onto his back.

He nearly jumped out of his shell when he heard his cry of pain, and quickly dropped the arm, turning to catch Donnie as he fell to the floor.

Donnie blinked up at Leo with half-lidded eyes, clearly unaware of what was happening. Leo looked at his hand and saw it coated in red, then at the arm he grabbed and cursed. He struggled for a moment, before finding a different way to put him on his back.

"Mikey, give me a boost!" He called, and Mikey turned, his fingers laced.

Leo ran towards his brother and gave a grunt as he jumped for one of the rafters, just barely holding on with his unoccupied arm.

Mikey managed to jump up shortly after, lifting him and Donnie up. Then Raph joined them and they all ran for the skylight they had come in through.

Quickly jumping to the other roof, Mikey grabbing both Casey and April's arms as it looked like they were about to run in. The two quickly got the message and allowed Mikey to turn them around.

They ran to the edge of the roof, stopping at the edge and turning to see the Footbots suddenly stop and turn back.

"Where are they going?" Casey asked, holding a hockey stick out in front of himself.

"She called them off." Leo said, a shocked look on his face.

"Why would she do that?" Raph asked.

Leo shook out of it , turning away. "It doesn't matter, let's just get home."

Leo jumped down onto the fire-escape before making his way to the then found quickest way into the sewers. He figured it would be easier to get home underground rather than try and lug Donnie across the roofs.

Once they were underground everyone took out their flashlights, and Leo set Donnie down for a moment. He wanted to look him over again to be sure there were no life-threatening damages to him.

He had a black eye and a bloody nose, as well as a deep cut going from his cheek to his jaw, and another bruise on the other cheek. His shirt was torn on the left side, and there was a long but seemingly shallow gash on his side, and two more on his chest. On his other side, once he pried the clothing away from it, there was another cut, and then a large bruise around it, as if he had been kicked. Both of his wrists were red and raw from where the chain had cut into them, not to mention the locked chains still hanging from them.

Finally, Leo assessed the damaged done to his right arm. The cut was on the lower part, just a bit lower than his elbow. It had bled a lot, if the colour of his shirt on that side was any indicator, as well as the blood on Leo's hand and shell.

April covered her mouth as the light hit him, Casey's eyes widening while Raph's eyes narrowed and Mikey turned away.

"Oh my god," April gasped.

"Holy shit, Don." Casey said, more to himself.

"Come on, let's get him home." Leo frowned, lifting Donnie into his arms, attempting to ignore the whimpers of pain.


	20. The One With the Nightmares

The moment they were through the turn stiles of their home Mikey went running for Splinter, while April ran to retrieve the first aid kit from Donnie's lab. She told Casey to get some water and a cloth.

Mikey came running back, Splinter following closely behind. Once his eyes met the sight of his son his expression melted to a mix of worry and seriousness.

"Set him on the couch," he told Leo, and the oldest complied, if not a bit nervously. He was scared to be away from him, not knowing the full extend of his injuries. He was careful to not bump anything injured, though he debated on it, just to get a reaction out of Donnie. He was too still, too silent, for Leo's liking.

April came running back with the kit, as well as some extra bandages, as Casey hurried back, walking as quickly as he could without spilling the water.

"What happened?" Splinter asked, as he began to remove the soiled shirt.

"A nice little game of interrogation, courtesy of your loving daughter." Raph all but growled, sitting down at his brother's feet.

Master Splinter's eyes widened momentarily, before he returned to his former state.

"Do you know what she was interrogating him for?"

"'Askin'im where the lair was, I bet." Raph said, and Leo continued for him.

"I don't know if he said anything."

"I wouldn't blame him. Look at him; any longer and he might have lost too much blood." April said, pointing to the arm Splinter was still cleaning blood away from.

"No way! No way Donnie would ever tell her anything!" Raph shouted, clearly angry at the very idea.

Leo looked at Raph with a sad look in his eye, before Splinter interrupted.

"I am going to have to bring him to the washroom to clean this blood off." He said, gathering the medical supplied. "Leonardo," he added, but didn't have to say more as Leo gently lifted his brother from the couch.

"Please, remain here, my children. I know my son would not be pleased if you all saw him undressed." He said, before he and Leo left the room with Donnie.

"I know he would never tell." Raph said again bitterly.

"Neither do I, but would you blame him, dude?" Casey asked.

"Of course not. He would blame himself enough for all of us."

An hour had passed and they remained in the washroom. Leo came out occasionally, to get some clothes from Donnie's room, and some more first aid supplies.

Casey had left 20 minutes before. He had answered a very loud conversation with his father over the phone before deciding it was best to take off. But April had remained sitting on the couch, too worried to even think about going home before Donnie woke up.

She sat by Mikey's side, holding his arm, and rubbing comforting circles on it. Raph was behind them, mercilessly attacking the practice dummy. It seemed like it was time to get a new one.

As Leo and Splinter walked into the room, all eyes turned to them.

They walked to the bedrooms, Donnie again in Leo's arms. He was now dressed in the sweats that April had gotten him, but his chest remained bare so that no clothing could tug at his stitches.

They momentarily stepped into his room, and after another 5 minutes, Leo stepped out. He looked drained as he came to sit on the couch.

"He'll be fine, but we had to give him some pain killers, so he'll probably be out most of the night."

They all nodded, Raph giving the practice dummy another stab for good measure.

"Do you mind if I stick around for the night?" April asked. "I don't really want to go any where's, y'know, in case he needs something."

"Yeah, it's fine." Leo told her. "I'll go make sure your room is ready." He got back up off the couch and went back to the bedrooms.

April smiled, before going to call her dad. She already had her books and some spare clothes already here for school in the morning.

Shortly after, Master Splinter left Donnie's room, walking out to the pit.

"I feel like now would be a good time for you to all go to bed. You will have training in the morning, and April, if you are staying the night, you still have school to attend in the morning."

The four teens left in the living room all nodded to their Sensei, before going to their rooms.

Raph, on his way there, passed Donnie's bedroom, opening the door ever so slightly and peering in. A scowl crossed his face as he seen his brother lying on the bed, bandages covering the cuts, but the bruises out in the open. He couldn't bear seeing him like that.

He moved his hand down to clutch his sai, and debated on running out the door to find Karai at that moment, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned to see Leo giving him a disapproving look, before closing Donnie's door.

"What?" Raph asked his brother, not shouting, but the same force was in the words.

"Don't go running off without thinking." Leo told him, knowing him too well.

"What? Am I just supposed to sit here after what she did?"

"Yes." Leo told him sternly, grabbing his arm and dragging him away from their brother's door. "You're not going alone. We retaliate as a team, and that means waiting for Donnie's input as well Even if he can't physically fight. In the end, going after her is his decision."

"You know he won't." Raph scowl deepened. "He's too smart for revenge."

"And that will be his decision." Leo said, and with that the conversation ended, and both boys went to their rooms on separate sides of the hall.

That night, at around 4 am, each family member, April included, woke to muffled screaming.

Raph and Leo ended up at Donnie's door at the same time, April and Mikey coming out of their sleep slower.

Leo ran in, staring down at Donnie laid on his stomach, his face stuffed into his pillow and his own hand digging into the cuts on his side.

"Donnie!" Leo cried out, grabbing his hand and forcing it away from his injuries. Blood already covering the bandage and leaving a small puddle on his brother's sheets.

Raph jumped in next, trying to turn his brother onto his back, grabbing one wrist which made him thrash. He was clearly in the middle of a nightmare, and trying to get away while yelling out. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he fought.

"Stop! Please! Just let me go! Just let me-" He screamed, still trapped in his nightmare.

"GET SENSEI!" Leo cried to Mikey, who turned from the room only to stop and move back, Splinter rushing in past him.

"Donatello, my son," Splinter said with concern. He moved past Raph, grabbing his son's face, which only made it worse. Donnie struck out with his now free hand, hitting Splinter in the nose.

The teens all stood in shock at the unexpected hit, though Splinter seemed to have barely felt it. He kept his hands on his son's face, trying to still him.

"Donnie, please wake up," Leo begged, still holding the hand covered in blood. Donnie kept thrashing for another moment before he stilled, letting out irregular breaths. Giving one last yank he got his head away from Splinter's hands.

All at once his eyes opened and he sat bolt upright, making everyone in the room jump. He looked around the room with a scared and confused expression, searching almost blindly before he looked over to each person at the door. His eyes then looked at his sensei, then finally at Leo.

It took him a moment to make the connection, that the bloody hand in Leo's grasp was his before he was trying to yank it away harshly.

Leo let it go on the second yank, and Donnie brought it closer to his face, looking it over. His eyes trailed down to his side, and it seemed to take him a moment before making the connection.

He wiped some of the blood off on to his sheets, before looking back to Splinter.

"Sensei?" He let out, his voice hoarse from his previous screaming fit.

"Yes, my son, you are home. You are safe." He told him, and Donnie nodded, reaching one hand out to clutch Splinter's robe, as if to make sure he was real. Splinter reached back up to his face, holding it gently and wiping the tears away from his uninjured eye.

Donnie slowly leaned forwards, resting his head against his father's chest. Splinter moved his hand, placing it on the back of Donnies head and ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair.

They stayed like that for a few moments, the rest of the teens unsure of what to do until Donnie's breathing finally calmed.

"Can you go get me a glass of water, Sensei?" He asked, after a moment of sitting there, his voice still quiet.

Splinter nodded, getting off of the bed and going to the kitchen, most likely to grab the first aid kit as well.

When Splinter left Donnie looked back to Leo.

Before he could react, Donnie reached for him, grabbing his arm and bringing him down next to him. Leo's eyes widened in surprise as Donnie wrapped his small arms around his neck, burying his face in his neck. His younger brother was never really one for physical contact, only excepting it occasionally depending on who you were. Giving two hugs in such a short time frame was definitely an oddity.

But as he felt fresh tears stream down Donnie's face and onto his skin Leo wrapped his arms around him, gently, not to hurt him any further.  
After a moment Donnie looked towards his other brothers, holding out the arm that wasn't wrapped around Leo as an invitation to join, and Mikey jumped at it, running over to embrace his brother. Raph moved slower, wrapping his arm around Donnie's back, before giving in and joining the hug fully.

April stayed by the door, not wanting to intrude on their brotherly moment. Splinter returned after a minute with the water, and smiled along with April.


	21. The One With the Drink

The next morning Donnie stirred. The effects of the pain killers were slowly wearing off, and the pain returned to his body. Eventually coming back full force.

He woke up in a sweat, afraid to open his eyes. He didn't want to break what could possibly be the allusion of a springing mattress, soft under his abused body.

He moved his arm down to his chest hesitantly. His fingers brushed over the bandage there that seemed to be covering the marks left by Karai.

He let out a breath of relief, which ended up coming out as more of a sob. He breathed in deeply, hoping to clear any sign of tears as he moved his hand down to bunch the soft sheets in his hand.

It took a moment before the memories of earlier that morning came back, and he grimaced, wiping at his eyes. He must have seemed so weak in front of his family, and April too.

As he finally convinced himself to open his eyes he noted that only one opened wall the way. His right eyes only opening up a slit, which he assumed was due to swelling.

After observing his surroundings making 100 percent sure that he was home, he slowly, he raised himself from his bed. A sherp hissing sound escaped his mouth at the feel of his side. He moved his hand to hold it before lifting his feet onto the cold floor. He wished that whoever had dressed him had thought to put on socks, or at least his wrappings.

He let the pain in his side dull, before slowly standing. He knew it was stupid, getting up like he was, but he needed a drink and wasn't sure who was around. He also wanted to see the damage Karai had done after he had passed out from blood loss and pain.

The cut to his arm had been the worse, either that or the one on his left side, that she had continued to kick afterwards. but he had noted her face. Even the most reserved ninja were not robots, and the emotion that had shown on her face after that cut had been obvious regret. She hadn't meant to let it get out of hand like that.

Not that he was deffedning her. She could rot in hell for all he cared.

Well, not actually. But he at least wanted to get a few good hits in next time they met.

"Donnie?" Someone asked as he walked into the main room, pulling himself out of his inner dialogue. He looked up to see Leo cleaning one of the sofa cushions.

"Hey, Lee," Donnie said, not pushing for the final syllable as he winced at his voice. It sounded like a cat being strangled. He attempted to clear his voice with some difficulty.

"What are you doing up?" He asked, concern written over his face and Donnie pointed to the kitchen.

"I need a drink."

"You should be in bed." He told him, walking over with him.

"It's fine, Leo." Donnie reassured. "My legs weren't hurt, I can walk fine."

Leo nodded, not bothering to argue, as he got a glass and some water for him.

"How are you feeling?" Leo asked.

Donnie emptied the glass before answring. "Pretty good, all things considering." The drink had done wonders on his throat, and he handed it back to his eldest brother in a silent request for a refill. Leo complied without hesitation, handing it back.

Donnie took another drink before frowning. "I'm uh, I'm sorry about last night." He said, looking away.

"It's fine, Don." Leo told them. "Though, you really did a number on your side. We had to re-stitch it after you passed back out."

Donnie looked down at his side, examining the length of white bandages wrapped around his mid-section.

"Donnie, you're awake." He heard and looked up to see April smiling at him.

"April, shouldn't you be home, or at school or something?" Donnie asked, surprised at her sudden appearance. "Er, not that I'm complaining, I just-"

She cut him off. "It's only 7. I'm leaving in a couple minutes. I didn't really want to go home until I knew you were okay."

"Oh, thanks," Donnie blushed, looking away from both her and his brother.

"Donnie, maybe you should sit down." Leo told him, putting an arm around his shoulders and leading him to the couch. "You lost a lot of blood yesterday."

"Oh, yeah, right." Donnie nodded, walking along easily.

Once he was seated, Leo by his side and April on the other, he asked;

"So, how bad do I look?"

He winced at the looks that crossed their faces.

He groaned, leaning back into the couch. "I'm a mess, aren't I?"

"I want to be positive, but that's putting it nicely, Don.." She trailed off, Leo looking no better to tell the truth.

Donnie lifted a hand up to his face, gently prodding at his eyes and winching, before moving to his nose and doing the same.

"I think she broke my nose." He frowned, then rubbed along the bandage on his cheek and jaw. "This is just great."

"It's fine, Donnie. You'll heal. Before you know it." Leo told him, then April looked down at her phone.

"I've got to go to school now." She told both brothers, leaning forwards and lightly kissing Donnie on the cheek. "Get better, Donnie." He told him.

Donnie's eyes widened at the kiss, a small smile spreading on his lips.

He gently reached up to his cheek as he watched her walk to the exit.  
"Oh, April, wait," He called, and she turned back around. "Can you, um, can you tell that Melody girl that I apologize?" He asked. "I would call her, but I sort of lost her number yesterday.." He frowned.

"Um, yeah, sure, what should I tell her happened?" She asked.

"I don't know, make anything up. Say I was mugged, or something.."

"Bye, April." Leo called, and she waved back.

While Leo was turned Donnie got back to his feet, clutching at his side.

"Where are you going?" Leo asked once he noticed.

"Bathroom," Donnie told him, walking up the stairs.

"Do you- Do you need help?"

"I'll manage." Donnie waved him off.

Once he got inside the first thing that caught his eye was the large mirror, or more specifically him in the large mirror.

"Oh god," He mumbled to himself, looking at the pale, scrawny human in his reflection. He was practically drained of all colour besides the dark bruises that littered his skin. The worst of them (that he could see) being his collar bone.

He then looked at the bandages that also littered his skin. There was the one on his arm, covering most of his forearm, then two bandages wrapped around either wrist, where the chains had cut them raw. Then another one was placed in the middle of his chest, where he guessed more cuts were. Then of course the one wrapped around his midsection for the cut on his side. Which he had apparently damaged last night in his fit. He vaguely remembered the blood, and scowled.

As he examined each injury the memory of how they each got there came flooding back. His skin paled even more, if that was possible and he turned away from the mirror in a hurry. He didn't want to look at the damage any more.

He left the bathroom minutes later, entering his room and finding his wrappings. He wanted, no needed, some form of normalcy and comfort, and he could at least try to find that in his usual attire.

He first did his left arm, which was difficult do to the injuries on his right, then debated on doing his right. Eventually he decided it would prove be pointless, as Sensei would probably have to change the bandages soon.

He looked down at his feet, trying to lean down to start wrapping them, before letting out a pained sound. He straightened out and tried to bring his foot onto the bed to wrap it with much of the same outcome. Dropping it back to the ground he gave a pitiful sigh.

"Donnie," he heard his brother say, and he sighed again, more annoyed this time. He held out the wrappings to his brother without bothering to look.

Leo sighed as well, taking the fabric from him and starting to wrap it around his foot, then up his leg.

"I feel like a stupid child." Donnie frowned, watching his brother's hands move around his leg.

"We all need help sometimes." Leo told him, moving to the next leg, and pulling his pant leg up. "I didn't even see this bruise." He commented, and Donnie looked at it.

"I think that's old. Bruises stick around a lot longer on this body, since the green stage doesn't blend into my skin anymore."

Leo nodded, finishing up his legs with quick and practised hands.

"So, where are Raph and Mikey?" Donnie asked, looking around the hall as they went back to the pit.

"With Sensei in the dojo. They're having some extra meditation today. Trying to channel their excessive energy into something besides being loud or being angry." Leo chuckled, as Donnie smiled. "They were both being a bit, uh, disruptive today during practice."

"You didn't join them?" Donnie asked. He quickly came to the conclusion that he had been the cause of the disruptive behaviour when his brother didn't explain further.

"I wanted to be out here in case you woke up, plus I needed to clean the couch."

"What happened to the couch?"

"You. That's where we put you last night. Do you not remember any of it?" Leo asked.

"No, not really. I only remember before I passed out, then I woke up last night and I was home."

"Oh, well you were in and out of consciousness, I guess." Leo shrugged, then his expression turned serious. "Why did Karai have you?" He asked.

Donnie winced at the question, obviously it brought poor memories, but Leo needed to know. "At first she just wanted to know where the lair was, but then she started questioning who I was, and why I was hanging around you guys."

Leo was silent for a moment before looking back at Donnie, "Did you tell her?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but I blacked out after a while." He frowned. "I think she stopped though, after I went out. I don't think I told her anything."

"No one would be angry at you if you did." Leo reassured him.

"I know." Donnie told him, lying back into the couch and turning his full attention to the television. He didn't want to talk anymore, he kind of just wanted to forget the whole thing and go back to sleep.

So he did.


	22. The One With the Argument

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long wait. This story is going through some major revisions. Please enjoy~

April walked into the school, clutching her bag to her chest as she walked through the halls. Her eyes looked through the halls, looking for Casey through the crowd of faces.

When she finally spotted him she saw him stood in small group, currently talking with a few members of the hockey team. He noticed her almost immediately, stopping mid-sentence to run over, ignoring the calls of his friends. His face looked worried and it made April smile. Despite their bickering they were at least friends.

"April," He started once he reached her. "How is he?"

April's smile brightened, "He woke up this morning after a, um, rough night." Her smile dropped for a moment, before it came back. "But he got himself out of bed and to the kitchen, so I think he'll be fine."

The look of concern was gone from Casey's face and replaced with a smile. "See? What'd I say? I knew he'd be fine." His grin was boarder-line cocky, and April rolled her eyes at him.

They continued to walk to April's locker, Casey sending a short waved towards his other friends. When they got there Irma was lready waiting at her own locker.

"Hey, April," She smiled, then looked confused. "Where's Donnie?"

April frowned, having formed her story word for word on her way over.

"His father won't let him leave the house. He was walking home the other day and he got mugged by some Purple Dragon." She told her friend.

"Oh my god, is he okay?" Irma asked. April knew her friend had never come face to face with a Purple Dragon, but everyone knew that the New York City Gangs could be very dangerous.

"Yeah, he didn't get too badly hurt, since they really just wanted his phone and wallet. But they roughed him up a bit, and his father's protective instincts kicked into overdrive." She frowned. "I don't think him or his brothers are going to be allowed to leave their house for a while."

"That's horrible." Irma frowned as the bell signalled the beginning of first period. "If you see him can you tell him I said get well soon?" She asked, heading towards their first period.

"Yeah, no problem," April told her. "I'm sure he'd really appreciate it."

April's day seemed to pass slowly, or slower than school usually passed, anyways. All she wanted to do was get back to the lair and make sure Donnie was fairing okay. Donnie's lack of presences made it worse.

By lunch she was ready to go crazy, but the appearance of one girl rang up Donnie's request of her this morning.

Setting her tray of food down she told her friends, "I'll be right back," before walking over to the table.

She stood there awkwardly for a moment, before on of the girls noticed her and Melody looked up. "Yes?" She asked.

"Hi, Melody, right?" She questioned and got an approving nod. "I'm a friend of Donnie's... You were supposed to meet up with him yesterday, weren't you?"

Melody frowned. "I thought we did, he was supposed to call me." She looked annoyed at the reminder that she had been stood up, and it made April feel even more awkward.

"Yeah, he asked me to apologize for that.. Yesterday when he was walking home, he got attacked on the street by some gang members.." She told him, and Melody, as well as her friends, looked shocked. "He would have called you on his own, but his phone was stolen, and with that your number." April told the group, not looking to meet their eyes.

"Is he going to be okay?" She questioned.

"Yeah, he wasn't hurt too bad, but his dad won't let him out of his sight after that. He's just going to keep getting home schooled, so, well, he's not going to be able to take you up on that date offer.." April trailed off and Melody frowned.

"Oh, I feel horrible! Here I was calling him a jerk all morning." She exclaimed and April frowned at that. "Please, tell him I understand, and that I hope he gets better soon." She insisted, her friends doing the same.

"I'll be sure to pass the message along next time I talk to him."

She gave a small wave before going back to her seat, joining in on Casey and Irma's conversation.

Donnie sat on the couch, laying back onto Mikey's side as the younger teen played a video game with their eldest brother.

Splinter and his brother's had left the dojo a short while after April had left. This had been quickly followed by Mikey attacking Donnie with excitement that he was out of bed. Raph showed his own relief by distracting Mikey away from him.

When Master Splinter had seen his son awake he had led him to the section of his lab marked off as the infirmary to change his bandages. Donnie had watched intently, examining his injuries with more detail, making sure they had been stitched up right.

He, of course, found nothing too atrocious about them besides the memories they stirred and allowed Splinter to continue.

It was now getting close to 6, and he found himself nodding off in front of the TV. He wasn't especially tired, but it had been a long two days and he felt comfortable enough for at least a short nap.

He was barely keeping his eyes opened when he heard someone walk through the turnstile. He sat up, his entire body tensing at the sound.

He looked over the couch, seeing April enter and immediately feeling a hot flush cover his face for such an overreaction.

He quickly laid back down, trying to turn his head to hide it.

"Hey guys," April said pleasantly, then turned to him. "Hey, Donnie. How are you feeling?" She asked.

"I'm feeling better," He told her, not looking up.

She sat down on the space near his stomach, looking over his still bare torso. He found clothing unpleasant enough as it was, let alone with all the cuts and bruises added to his skin. He had tried putting a shirt on and it had just thoroughly irritated him.

"How bad do they hurt?" She asked, her fingers grazing over the bruise on his collar bone, causing goose bumps to litter his skin and his cheeks to heat up.

"Um, not to bad," he let out quietly, letting his focus turn to the small bumps across his arms. "They start to flair up, though, if I move too quickly."

For a moment the distraction worked, becoming enthralled in his human skin before he felt April's hands move to his stomach. She brushed over where the wrappings around it came loose, apparently oblivious to his reaction.

"You should re-do this." She told him, looking back to his face.

"It's just from sitting up, and stuff." He told her, looking away shyly. "It would just come loose again."

She frowned, but accepted his answer.

"I spoke to Melody for you. She says she understands, and that she hopes you get better soon. Irma wished you well, too."

Donnie listened, though it was difficult with her hand still rested on his stomach. He went to answer, trying to get his voice to work without stuttering when Mikey popped into the conversation.

"Who's Melody?" He asked, and Donnie's eyes widened, his face becoming redder then it had been.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask that too after this morning. Why'd you have her number?" Leo added in. Donnie couldn't see him from how he was sitting, but he could hear the smirk on his face.

"She's just a girl from the school." Donnie said quietly.

"A girl that he had a date with." Casey smirked, and Donnie jumped at his sudden appearance. He hadn't even noticed he had come in.

"Casey!" Donnie yelled out in protest.

"He was supposed to take her out, but he was going to cancel since it could be dangerous." April added in, and the look of betrayal turned to her.

"April," he whined, going to sit up but his torso halting it, as well as a hand to the chest by her.

"What? What's so bad about that? You got a date, dude. Nothing wrong." Casey said.

"Donnie and Melody, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Mikey sang, his hands clasped under his chin as the controller laid forgotten in his lap.

Donnie glared at the humans' one at a time. "That is what's wrong."

"Oh stop it, you guys." April rolled her eyes, leaning over Donnie to tap Mikey on the head. "It's not a big deal."

"Maybe if we hadn't waited so long to go get you last night you would have been able to make your date." Mikey snickered.

Donnie eyebrows lowered, a confused look spreading over his face.

"What?" He asked, turning to look at his brothers. "Waited?"

"Well, yeah, when you didn't come home after school we didn't know where you went, so we waited a little while." Mikey said, and Donnie looked towards his older brother, frowning at the awkward look on his face.

"Didn't know where I went?" He asked.

"It was still light out, and we didn't actually know if you were in trouble.." Leo told him awkwardly. "So we were waiting until it was dark."

"I didn't come home, and wasn't home for hours, and you waited until it was dark?" Donnie sat up, refusing April's help and turned to look at his brothers.

"Donnie, we didn't know you were in trouble and we-"

"What did you think I was doing?" He asked him.

"We thought, um, that maybe you had gone to get something to eat, or.. or, um," he didn't finish his thoughts.

"You thought I was running!" He exclaimed, standing up from the couch and ignoring the pain in his side. "You thought I wasn't coming home!"

"Donnie, we- I just-" Leo was cut off again with a glare from Donnie.

He turned away from his brothers and friends, marching towards his room and nearly bowling Raph over on the way as the other middle brother made his way from his own room.

"Hey, watch it, Egghead!" He shouted after him, but only got a slammed door in response. "What's with him?"

"Mikey told him that we waited a few hours before going to look for him.." Leo said awkwardly.

"Oh," Raph frowned, obviously still annoyed at Leo's decision as well.

"Maybe I should go talk to him.." April frowned, going to get up.

"Don't." Leo held her back. "I think he just needs to be alone for a bit.. If he doesn't come out by tonight I'll talk to him."

"Yeah, because obviously you're exactly who he wants to talk to." Raph told him, huffing and walking off to the kitchen.

Mikey gave his oldest brother a quick look, before following Raph.

"You guys should probably head home." Leo told April and Casey, standing up from the couch and putting both of the controllers away. "Don't worry about, Donnie. He'll be fine."

April frowned as she watched Leo go past the kitchen, heading towards the dojo. She looked back towards Donnie's bedroom, debating on going to talk to him anyways, but ended up listening to Leo, following Casey out the door.


	23. The One Where Nothing is Resolved

Donnie paced around the room, calmer than he felt, though only because of the pain his earlier stomping had caused in his sign. A deep frown was etched across his face, making up for the lack of vigour in his walking.

He had just woken up from the nap he had succumbed to earlier, being roused by Leo knocking on his door. When he hadn't answered Leo had told him they'd be in the dojo and had left. He didn't want to speak to any of them right now. Not Leo, not Mikey, not even April. Though, he had no trouble speaking to himself.

"They thought I was going to leave," Donnie said out loud, "They actually thought I was just going to  _run_." He let out an angry sound, kicking at his desk leg and cursing when some of the books fell off.

He lowered himself to the ground, his too-small feet curled under him. He let out a sigh, closing his eyes for a restful moments before looking at the pile of books in front of him.

He begun to pile them up in his lap before he found himself clutching one of his notebooks. A bright yellow one that April had gifted to him when he had told her he was out a couple weeks back. It was open to a page with notes littering every space, full of equations that he had been working out to create a retro-mutagen of his second mutation.

He looked over the notes, before nearly scrunching the book up in frustration, a strangled cry escaping his throat though it was too small to alert his family. He released his grip on the book, setting it back on his lap with the others and resting his hands over top.

"If they thought I was gonna run, it's clear that I don't belong anymore." He said to himself, then looked back down at the complicated notes. "If I ever really did.."

He slowly got up from his seated position, moving the pile of books from his lap to his desk before turning around and assessing his room. Eyeing what he needed almost immediately, he moved forwards and grabbed the bag he used on trips to the scrap yard.

He set it on his bag before moving to the sall pile of clothes on his bedside table, throwing on a t-shirt and the sweatshirt that Casey had given him. He quickly threw his remaining clothes in the bag, including his wrappings and mask. He took his belt and through it over his shoulder, ignoring the ache it caused.

He looked around his again room before moving to his shelf and dug out the small collection of money he had. Saving up every dime, nickel and penny he found in the sewers and on the streets. He took the container he kept it in and stuffed it in the bag as well before throwing it over his shoulder.

Moving back to his desk, he grabbed the yellow notebook, as well as a few others and shoved them into the bag. Satisfied with his luggage, he turned to the door.

Opening the door enough to only peek out, he gave a breath of relief. Not a brother in sight.

Stepping out of his room, he walked towards his lab, careful not to make a sound as he pulled the door open.

He frowned as he looked around it, then went to his desk. He grabbed another notebook, and his laptop and pushed them both into the bag.

Finally, he grabbed the small canister of mutagen he had gotten from Stockman's lab, and a few items from the first aid kit. With the bag full, he closed it up, walking back into the main room.

He looked around for a moment, before seeing his wooden bo leaning against the wall and grabbed it as well.

Finally, he walked towards the doors, turning to give his home one last look. Giving another sigh he threw the hood of his sweatshirt over his head and walked into the sewers.

He was above ground in a matter of minutes, and headed down the busy sidewalk. It wasn't a long walk, he knew the city well and knew exactly where he wanted to go.

As he entered the bus station he walked towards the lady at the ticket window.

She looked up from her magazine at him with disinterested eyes before she most likely caught sight of his banged up face.

"You okay, sweetheart?" She asked him.

He nodded, rubbing at the bandage on his face. "Yeah, I just need a bus ticket."

"Where're you going to?"

Donnie rummaged through his bag, grabbing the container of money and pulling out a few bills. "As far as this will take me." He told her, placing it on the counter.

He watched nervously as she counted it out, looking around him every once in a while to make sure he hadn't been followed.

He was surprised that she gave him a ticket so easily, but probably figured she thought he was getting out of a bad situation. But the ticket was in his hand, and he wet to the proper station to sit and wait out the 20 minutes before it came. He felt his stomach flop around inside, very nervous and subconsciously pressing down on his injured arm. If his brothers found him too early he didn't know what would happen, and it was terrifying.

But the 20 minutes passed without event, and Donnie found himself watching down the street as a bus pulled up.

He let out a small sigh, digging his Tphone out and looking down at it sadly.

"I'm sorry, guys." He whispered, before setting it on the bench where he had been sitting, and climbing onto the bus, giving the driver his ticket.

He walked down the isle of the vehicle, grabbing a seat near the middle and fitting his staff in it before sitting down himself.

As the bus rolled away, he looked out the window and let out another sigh before closing his eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah... nothing is really solved at the end of part one.. Sorry about that. But Part two is not a long wait away. I'll most likely start posting it within the week, so keep a look out for it. 
> 
> Thanks for reading~


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